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Question

In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/Indirect speech. Out of the four alternatives suggested, select the one which best expresses the same sentence in Indirect/Direct speech.

He said to the dentist, "I have a toothache."

This question was previously asked in
SSC CGL 2017 (Tier 1) Previous Year Paper (16-Aug-2017) (Shift 1)
The correct answer is

He told the dentist that he had a toothache.

Converting direct to indirect speech: "said to" becomes told; the conjunction that introduces the reported clause; the first-person pronoun I changes to he (referring to the original speaker); and present-tense have back-shifts to past-tense had after the past reporting verb.

This yields: "He told the dentist that he had a toothache." Option 3 applies all four changes correctly; the others fail on pronoun, tense, or both.

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Important Questions from Direct and Indirect Speech

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    Prabha said to Prabhu, "Prem was playing cards."

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  5. Choose the option that is the indirect form of the sentence.

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