Question

Ann said to Jane, “You have a very well paid job.”
Convert to indirect speech.
a) Ann told Jane that she had a very well paid job.
b) Ann told Jane that she has a very well paid job.
c) Ann said to Jane that she has a very well paid job.
d) Ann said to Jane that she had a very well paid job.

Answer 1

Hint: The given sentence is in direct speech. It is the reporting speech by repeating the actual words of the speaker. For example: “I'm going”, she said.

Complete answer:
The given sentence is in direct speech, and we have to convert it to an indirect speech. Direct speech quotes the exact words spoken by a person. Indirect speech is a means of expressing the content of statements, questions, or other utterances, without quoting them explicitly as it is done in direct speech. For example, He said, “I’m coming” is direct speech, whereas, He said he was coming as indirect speech.
Now, let us examine all the given options to find out the correct answer :
Option ‘a’ – this sentence is in the present perfect tense, and to report at the past perfect tense is used and the appropriate introductory verb (tell) is used in the past tense.
Option ‘b’ – This sentence is not correct as ‘has' is used in it. We cannot use ‘has' in any indirect speech of any sentence.
Option ‘c’ – This is also an incorrect option as the sentence has ‘said to'. Only the past tense of ‘tell’ can be used in such sentences.
Option ‘d’ – Here also, ‘said to' is used, which is wrong.
As we have analyzed all the given options, we can easily figure out the correct option. Here, the indirect speech of the given sentence is – Ann told Jane that she had a very well paid job. Hence, the option ‘a’ is the correct option.

Note:
‘Say' focuses on the words someone said, whereas ‘tell’ focuses on the content or message conveyed. For example: “Hello”, she said, not “Hello”, she told.