Question

Complete the reported speech of the following sentence given in direct form:
“Our study group has spent decades studying the health effects of diet quality and composition,” said co-author Eric Rimm.
Co – author Eric Rimm _______________________________.

Answer 1

Hint: Direct speech is (grammar) the writing of speech, using the exact words of the speaker, usually between quotation marks.

Complete answer:
We know that narration is the act of giving an account describing incidents or a course of events. It also refers to a message that tells the particulars of an act or occurrence or course of events; presented in writing or drama or cinema or as a radio or television program.
In the given question, we have to write down the reported version of the direct statement given to us.
This required changing the tense of the sentence, from present perfect to past perfect. The reported verb shall be ‘said’ as is used in the direct speech sentence. A conjugation ‘that’ will be put after the reporting verb. First-person pronouns will change to third-person pronouns.
Thus, the correct answer will be –
Co-author Eric Rimm said that their study group had spent decades studying the health effects of diet quality and composition.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of indirect speech. Indirect speech is (grammar) a form of speech used to express what another person has said; often involves a change in the tense. If we were to change "Fred says "I will do the housework"." into reported speech it would become "Fred said that he would do the housework."