Convert the following direct speech from the passage into reported speech: The guide said, “The leopard hunts only at night because its eyesight is excellent.”
Answer
The guide said that the leopard hunted only at night because its eyesight was excellent.
The correct answer is The guide said that the leopard hunted only at night because its eyesight was excellent. — Combine the parts to form the reported speech sentence.
Step-by-step solution
- Identify the reporting verb – *said* – which stays unchanged.
- Change the pronoun *the leopard* remains the same; no pronoun change needed.
- Shift the present tense verb *hunts* to past tense *hunted* because the reporting verb is in past.
- Change the adverb *only at night* stays the same; it is a time expression.
- Alter *its eyesight is excellent* to *its eyesight was excellent* to maintain tense consistency.
- Combine the parts to form the reported speech sentence.
Common mistake: Forgetting to change the verb tense from present to past (e.g., writing ‘hunts’ instead of ‘hunted’).
Concept tested: Reported speech conversion
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