Question

Rewrite the following sentence according to the instruction given after each. Make other changes that may be necessary but do change the meaning of each sentence.
We have had no rain since January, Ramu said.
(Being: Ramu said that they_ _ _ _ _.)

Answer 1

Hint: The given sentence is indirect speech, it presents what Ramu said, i.e., his exact words have been quoted.

Complete step-by-step answer:

Direct speech is that in which the words of the speaker are directly quoted as it is. The given sentence is indirect speech. In the other sentence, it has been converted into indirect speech. The meaning remains the same, but the sentence is presented in the words of the listener. In indirect speech, the first person pronouns become third-person pronouns. The complete sentence will be “Ramu said that they have had no rain since January.” The meaning of the sentence remains the same and the sentence is now indirect speech. ‘We’ changed to ‘they’ as given already, the conjunction ‘that’ is added (given in the sentence already). Thus, following the rules of changing direct speech to indirect speech, the changes have been made to the sentence. The given sentence is in present perfect tense as the action of no rain from the past is still in continuation at present. There still has been no rain. The tense of the sentence remains the same in indirect speech too.

Note: The tense is not changed as changing that would change the time and happening of the event.