Question:easy

Suresh said, "I did it yesterday." Which one of the following options is the correct form of this sentence in indirect speech?

Show Hint

A past tense reporting verb pushes the reported verb one step further back in tense, and time words like "yesterday" must also shift.
Updated On: Aug 14, 2026
  • Suresh said that I did it yesterday.
  • Suresh says I did it yesterday.
  • Suresh says that he did it the day before.
  • Suresh said that he had done it the day before.
Show Solution

The Correct Option is D

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question.
We must convert the direct speech sentence "I did it yesterday," spoken by Suresh, into correct indirect (reported) speech.

Step 2: Key Rule or Approach.
Three changes happen together whenever the reporting verb is in the past tense:
1. Pronoun change: the speaker's "I" becomes "he" or "she" from the reporter's point of view.
2. Tense backshift: simple past ("did") moves one step further back, to past perfect ("had done").
3. Time reference shift: a word tied to the day of speaking, like "yesterday", becomes "the day before" or "the previous day".

Step 3: Detailed Explanation.
Start from the direct sentence and build the indirect version rule by rule. The reporting verb is "said", so it stays in the past tense: "Suresh said that...".
The subject of the quoted sentence is "I", referring to Suresh, so it becomes "he": "...that he...".
The verb "did" is simple past, so it backshifts to past perfect "had done": "...he had done it...".
The time word "yesterday" no longer makes sense once we are reporting the sentence later, so it changes to "the day before": "...had done it the day before."
Putting the pieces together gives: "Suresh said that he had done it the day before."
Checking this constructed sentence against the four options, it matches option (D) exactly, while options (A), (B), and (C) each fail to apply one or more of the three rules above.

Step 4: Final Answer.
The correct indirect speech version is "Suresh said that he had done it the day before," which is option (D).
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