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CSEET · Business Communication · Essentials of Good English

Choose the correct indirect speech for: The manager said to Ravi, "I am satisfied with your report."

The correct sentence is that the manager told Ravi he was satisfied with his report. The tense moves back from present to past, pronouns change to suit the reporter's viewpoint, and 'said to' becomes 'told' for a statement.

  1. AThe manager told Ravi that he was satisfied with his report.Correct
  2. BThe manager told Ravi that he is satisfied with your report.
  3. CThe manager told to Ravi that I was satisfied with his report.
  4. DThe manager asked Ravi that he was satisfied with his report.

Explanation

In reported speech the present tense 'am' shifts to 'was' after a past reporting verb, 'I' becomes 'he' and 'your' becomes 'his'. 'Said to' becomes 'told' for statements. Option 2 keeps 'is' and 'your', and option 3 wrongly uses 'told to'.

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