Reported speech — Sentence Correction Aptitude Question
Reported speech: Choose the correct reported form of: 'I am going to Delhi tomorrow,' he said. Answer and worked solution on CodeKairo.
- Topic: Sentence Correction
- Section: Verbal Ability
- Difficulty: Medium
- Time target: 60 seconds
Question
Choose the correct reported form of: 'I am going to Delhi tomorrow,' he said.
Options
- He said that he is going to Delhi tomorrow.
- He said that he was going to Delhi the next day.
- He said that he was going to Delhi tomorrow.
- He says that he was going to Delhi the next day.
Show the answer and the worked solution
Correct answer: B. He said that he was going to Delhi the next day.
Worked solution
- Said is past, so 'am going' becomes 'was going'.
- Tomorrow becomes the next day.
Answer: He said that he was going to Delhi the next day.
The idea
In reported speech both the tense and the time reference move one step into the past. Changing only one of them is the usual half-correct answer.
Shortcut. Run three quick checks: 'was going' removes 'is going', 'the next day' removes 'tomorrow', and 'said' removes 'says'. One option passes all three.
Common trap. "He said that he was going to Delhi tomorrow." — the tense is shifted back but 'tomorrow' is kept, which only makes sense on the speaker's own day; reported speech needs 'the next day'.