Understanding Direct and Indirect Speech Conversion

Converting a sentence from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech involves reporting what someone said without using their exact words. Several changes need to be made, including changes to tense, pronouns, and sometimes time and place expressions.

The original sentence given in Direct Speech is:

"It is unlikely that fulfillment of these criteria and conditions can be accomplished in less than 48 hours", the duty officer said.

(Rephrased as per question structure: The duty officer said, "It is unlikely that fulfillment of these criteria and conditions can be accomplished in less than 48 hours".)

Key Rules for Converting Direct to Indirect Speech

Let's look at the changes required for this specific sentence:

• Reporting Verb: The reporting verb "said" remains the same.
• Connector: We use the conjunction "that" to connect the reporting clause to the reported clause.
• Tense Change: The tense in the reported clause usually shifts back.
  • "is" (Present Simple) changes to "was" (Past Simple).
  • "can" (modal verb) changes to "could" (past form of can).
• Pronoun/Demonstrative Change: "these" changes to "those".

Applying the Conversion Rules

Let's apply these rules step-by-step to the given sentence:

1. Start with the reporting clause: The duty officer said
2. Add the connector: The duty officer said that
3. Change the tense of "is": it was unlikely
4. Change the pronoun/demonstrative "these": fulfillment of those criteria and conditions
5. Change the modal verb "can": could be accomplished
6. The rest of the phrase "in less than 48 hours" remains unchanged.

Putting it all together, the sentence in Indirect Speech becomes:

The duty officer said that it was unlikely that fulfillment of those criteria and conditions could be accomplished in less than 48 hours.

Evaluating the Options

Now let's compare the converted sentence with the given options:

• Option 1: "The duty officer said that it is unlikely that fulfilment of those criteria and condition scan be accomplished in less than 48 hours" - Incorrect tense change for "is" (remains "is") and "can" (remains "can"). Also, likely typo "condition scan".
• Option 2: "The duty officer said that was going to be unlikely that fulfilment of those criteria and conditions can be accomplished in less than 48 hours." - Incorrect tense change for "is" (changed to "was going to be unlikely") and "can" (remains "can").
• Option 3: "The duty officer said that it would be unlikely that fulfilment of those criteria and conditions could be accomplished in less than 48 hours" - Incorrect tense change for "is" (changed to "would be").
• Option 4: "The duty officer said that it was unlikely that fulfillment of those criteria and conditions could be accomplished in less than 48 hours." - Correctly changes "is" to "was", "these" to "those", and "can" to "could".

Conclusion

Based on the rules of Direct and Indirect Speech conversion, the sentence "It is unlikely that fulfillment of these criteria and conditions can be accomplished in less than 48 hours", when reported by the duty officer, correctly becomes "The duty officer said that it was unlikely that fulfillment of those criteria and conditions could be accomplished in less than 48 hours."