Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
Mary says “I clean my room everyday “
Mary says that ___________________
a) I clean her room every day.
b) She cleans my room every day.
c) She cleaned her room every day.
d) She cleans her room every day.
e) Her room was cleaned every day.

Answer 1

Hint: In order to answer this question one must understand the difference between direct and indirect speech i.e. Reported Speech, one must understand the rules associated with the reported speech in detail.

Complete Answer: Reported speech is often known as indirect speech in English. When we talk about reported speech, we are usually talking about the past. Now let's take a look at some rules which are necessary in understanding Reported speech.
The DIRECT SPEECH changes into INDIRECT SPEECH
>Present simple tense into past simple tense
>Present progressive tense into past progressive tense
Example 1): She said, “I work in a hospital”. DIRECT SPEECH
She said that she worked in a hospital. INDIRECT SPEECH
2) He said, ”I am waiting for someone”. DIRECT SPEECH
He said that he was waiting for someone. INDIRECT SPEECH

However there are some exceptions when verbs don’t follow the rules. The verb tenses do not always follow the rules. If the reporting verb is the present tense, there is no change in the reported sentence. Also, a sentence in direct speech in a present or future tense can remain the same if what is said is still true or relevant.

The reporting verb in the given sentence says it in the present form. Therefore the reported verb should be in the present tense. The pronoun I changes into she.
>Option A) This option is incorrect because the pronoun I should change into she in the indirect speech.
>Option B) This option is incorrect because in this sentence the pronoun is missing.
>Option C) This option is incorrect because there will be no change in the verb tenses. It does not follow the rule of the verb tenses.
>Option D) This option is correct because it follows the rule of the verb tenses and the pronoun also changes from I into she.
Option E) This option is incorrect because it does not follow the rules of the verb tenses.

Hence option ‘d’ is the correct answer.

Note:To answer such types of questions it is very important to read the sentence carefully so as to know in which tense the sentence is written as there are different rules for different types of sentence. It is imperative to know the rules of Reported speech along with its rules.