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Direct and Indirect Speech Questions with Answers

Reporting what was said, with the tense, pronoun and time-word shifts that follow. This page pools every direct and indirect speech question on the site — 82 of them, from 16 exams, weighted towards Banking, SSC, Engineering — so you can drill the topic on its own instead of meeting four of them inside a full paper.

17% of the pool is graded hard on this site’s own scale and 6% easy, which is about average for this section.

Questions
82
Practice set
25 in 25 min
Difficulty
5/63/14
Negative marking
None
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Direct and Indirect Speech questions with solutions

6 from the 82-question pool, worked in full.

  1. 1. Choose the correct indirect speech: She asked, "Where is the nearest branch?"

    • A. She asked where the nearest branch was. ✓
    • B. She asked where is the nearest branch.
    • C. She asked where the nearest branch is.
    • D. She asked that where the nearest branch was.

    Solution. A wh-question in indirect speech drops the question word order and shifts the tense: "she asked where the nearest branch was".

  2. 2. Convert to indirect speech: The teacher said, "Submit your assignments on time."

    • A. The teacher said the students to submit their assignments on time.
    • B. The teacher told the students submitting their assignments on time.
    • C. The teacher told the students to submit their assignments on time. ✓
    • D. The teacher tells the students to submit their assignments on time.

    Solution. An imperative sentence in indirect speech is reported using "told...to" followed by the base verb.

  3. 3. Choose the indirect form of: She said, "I am reading now."

    • A. She said that I am reading now.
    • B. She says that she was reading then.
    • C. She said that she was reading then. ✓
    • D. She said that she is reading now.

    Solution. With the past reporting verb said, am reading changes to was reading, I to she, and now to then.

  4. 4. Choose the correct indirect speech form of: He said, "I can finish it today."

    • A. He said that he can finish it today.
    • B. He said that he could finish it today.
    • C. He said that he could finish it that day. ✓
    • D. He said that he can finish it that day.

    Solution. In reported speech, "can" shifts back to "could" and "today" shifts to "that day".

  5. 5. Report the request: The candidate said to the clerk, "Please guide me to the exam hall."

    • A. The candidate said please guide me to the exam hall.
    • B. The candidate requested that guide him to the exam hall.
    • C. The candidate requested the clerk to guide him to the exam hall. ✓
    • D. The candidate told whether the clerk guided him to the exam hall.

    Solution. A polite request is commonly reported with "requested + object + to-infinitive".

  6. 6. Choose the correct indirect speech form of: He said, 'I have finished the typing test.'

    • A. He said that he has finished the typing test.
    • B. He said that he had finished the typing test. ✓
    • C. He said that he finished the typing test.
    • D. He said that he finishes the typing test.

    Solution. In reported speech, the present perfect "have finished" shifts back to the past perfect "had finished".

Exams that set Direct and Indirect Speech

3 categories, led by Banking, SSC, Engineering.

Also set by SSC CHSL, SSC CHT, SSC CPO, SSC Stenographer. Browse all exams.

Direct and Indirect Speech: frequently asked questions

How many direct and indirect speech questions are there?

82, from the 16 exams here whose syllabus sets the topic. 6% are graded easy and 17% hard, which makes direct and indirect speech about average for this section, where the mean is 17%.

Which exams ask direct and indirect speech questions?

16 of the exams on this site, weighted towards Banking (10), SSC (5), Engineering (1). Every question in this pool comes from one of their own mock tests, so the list below is the honest answer to whether the topic is worth your time.

Is direct and indirect speech hard?

17% of these 82 questions are graded hard and 6% easy, making it about average for this section, where the mean is 17%.

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