Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
He said, “I do not want to see this film”
He said that ____________.
A) He did not want to see that film.
B) He doesn’t want to see a film.
C) He didn’t want to see this film.
D) He wanted to see that film.
E) Not to see that film.

Answer 1

Hint: Here we have to complete the blank with the direct and indirect speech. Direct speech is a quoted speech in a sentence or thoughts in its original form, whereas, indirect speech is also called reported speech and it is a means of expressing the content of statements. For example: Simi said, “I will give you a pencil” and its indirect speech is Simi said that she would give me a pencil.

Complete answer:
Option A) He did not want to see that film – is the correct answer because according to the narration and reporting, if the reported verb is in past tense then the tense of the corresponding reported verb will also be in the past tense. So, ‘do will change into did’. Therefore, this is the correct option.

Option B) He doesn’t want to see a film – is an incorrect answer because “I do not want to see this film” does not change into ‘doesn’t want to see a film’ this does not follow the rule of the narrating and reporting. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option C) He didn’t want to see this film – is an incorrect answer because ‘this’ used in this option is inappropriate as ‘this’ has to convert into ‘that’. Here, this option does not follow the rule. So, this is an incorrect answer.

Option D) He wanted to see that film – is an incorrect answer because he does not want to see the film and here this option conveys that person is willing to see the film. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.

Option E) Not to see that film – is an incorrect answer because ‘not to see the film’ means that person is saying others not to see the file which is totally wrong here. So, this is an incorrect answer.
He said, “I do not want to see this film”
He said that he did not want to see that film.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘A’.

Note: For answering such questions students should be aware of the certain rules that convert direct speech into indirect speech and those rules are:
1. Indirect speech is not enclosed in quotation marks.
2. Use of word that, that is a conjunction between the reporting verb and reporting speech.
3. Change in pronoun i.e. pronoun of a subject of the reported speech to change according to the pronoun of the reported verb.
For example: Direct speech - He said,” I am happy”
Indirect speech – He said that he was happy. (Here tense of reported speech changed).
So, as per the question, Option A is the most appropriate answer as compared to any other option because it follows the rule of converting in indirect speech.