Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech. “I have been to Hyderabad”, Vishnu told me.
Vishnu told me that he had been to Hyderabad.
Key Points
- Let's look at the steps for changing the sentence from direct to indirect speech:
- In the given sentence the reporting verb is 'told' its object is 'me'. It will not be changed.
- Comma (,) and inverted commas("...") will be removed.
- The conjunction 'that' will be added.
- 'I' will be changed into 'he' according to the subject (Vishnu) of the reporting speech.
- Here, "have been" turns into "had been" according to the rules of tense changes. (More in the addition information)
Therefore, the correct answer is "Vishnu told me that he had been to Hyderabad."
Additional Information
- The following table will enable us to know how tense changes in indirect speech:-
| Direct Speech | Indirect Speech |
Simple Present | Simple Past (Subject + V2 + Object) |
| Present Continuous (Subject + is/am/are + V1 + ing + Object) | Past Continuous (Subject + was/were + V1 + ing + Object) |
| Present Perfect (Subject + has/have + V3 + Object) | Past Perfect (Subject + had + V3 + Object) |
| Simple Past (Subject + V2 + Object) | Past Perfect (Subject + had + V3 + Object) |
| Past Continuous (Subject + was/were + V1 + ing + Object) | Past Perfect Continuous (Subject + had been + V1 + ing + Object) |
| Simple Future (Subject + will/shall + V1 + Object) | Present Conditional (Subject + would + V1 +Object) |
| Future Continuous (Subject + will/shall + V1 + ing + Object) | Conditional Continuous (Subject + would + be + V1 + ing + Object) |
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