Direct to Indirect Speech Conversion

The question requires transforming a sentence from direct speech into its indirect form. Direct speech presents the exact words spoken by a person, typically enclosed in quotation marks. Indirect speech, also known as reported speech, conveys the message of the speaker without using their exact words. This conversion often involves changes in pronouns, verb tenses, and certain time or place expressions.

Speech Transformation Rules

When converting sentences from direct to indirect speech, specific grammatical rules must be followed:

• Reporting Verb Change: If the reporting verb is "said to" followed by an object (like "his boss"), it changes to "told". If there is no object, "said" generally remains "said".
• Conjunction: The conjunction "that" is commonly used to introduce the reported statement.
• Pronoun Changes: Pronouns in the reported speech change according to the subject and object of the reporting verb. For instance, "I" (first person) referring to the speaker will change to "he" or "she" (third person) in indirect speech, depending on the speaker's gender. Similarly, "my" changes to "his" or "her".
• Tense Changes (Backshift of Tenses): This is a fundamental rule when the reporting verb is in the past tense (e.g., "said", "told"). The tense of the verb in the reported clause shifts backward.
  For example:
  • Simple Present changes to Simple Past.
  • Present Continuous changes to Past Continuous.
  • Present Perfect changes to Past Perfect.
  • Simple Past changes to Past Perfect.
  • Crucially, the Past Perfect tense remains Past Perfect in indirect speech.
  • Future Simple (using 'will') changes to Conditional (using 'would').
• Time and Place Expressions: Words indicating proximity (e.g., "now", "here") change to words indicating distance (e.g., "then", "there"). However, expressions like "before the end of the day" are specific time references that usually remain unchanged if the meaning is clear in the new context.

Direct Speech Sentence Analysis

The original sentence in direct speech is: "He said to his boss, "I had completed my task before the end of the day.""

• Reporting Clause: "He said to his boss"
• Reported Clause: "I had completed my task before the end of the day."
• Tense in Reported Clause: The verb "had completed" is in the Past Perfect tense.

Conversion Steps

1. Reporting Verb: "said to his boss" will be transformed into "told his boss".
2. Conjunction: The conjunction "that" will be introduced after the reporting clause.
3. Pronoun Change: The pronoun "I" in the direct speech refers to "He" (the speaker), so it changes to "he" in indirect speech. Similarly, "my task" becomes "his task".
4. Tense Change: The verb "had completed" is already in the Past Perfect tense. According to the rules of direct to indirect speech conversion, the Past Perfect tense does not undergo further backshift; it remains as Past Perfect.
5. Time Expression: The phrase "before the end of the day" remains unchanged.

Following these steps, the indirect form of the sentence becomes: "He told his boss that he had completed his task before the end of the day."

Option Evaluation

Let's evaluate each provided option against the rules of indirect speech conversion:

• Option 1: "He told his boss that he had to complete his task before the end of the day."
  This option incorrectly changes the meaning by introducing "had to complete", which suggests obligation. The original sentence stated a completed action, not a requirement.
• Option 2: "He told his boss that he completed his task before the end of the day."
  This option changes "had completed" (Past Perfect) to "completed" (Simple Past). This is an incorrect tense change. Past Perfect does not convert to Simple Past in indirect speech; it remains Past Perfect.
• Option 3: "He told his boss that he had completed his task before the end of the day."
  This option correctly converts "said to his boss" to "told his boss," correctly uses "that," correctly changes "I" to "he," and crucially, correctly maintains the Past Perfect tense ("had completed"). This conversion is fully consistent with all the rules of indirect speech.
• Option 4: "He told his boss that he has completed his task before the end of the day."
  This option incorrectly changes "had completed" (Past Perfect) to "has completed" (Present Perfect). When the reporting verb is in the past, Present Perfect tense should not appear as a conversion for Past Perfect.

Based on the comprehensive application of direct to indirect speech rules, particularly concerning pronoun and tense changes, Option 3 is the accurate indirect form of the given sentence.