Question

Complete the reported speech of the following sentence given in direct form:
"Our study group has spent decades studying the health effects of diet quality and composition," said co-author Eric Rimm.
Co-author Eric Rimm ______________________. [Advanced]

Answer 1

When we change a speech from direct to reported, the tense of the sentence will go one tense back.

So, in this sentence,"Our study group has spent decades studying the health effects of diet quality and composition",

the tense is present perfect tense; "has spent" is the verb form that expresses this tense.

Hence the sentence will be in past perfect tense, and the relevant subject and words will change in that manner.

Hence the answer is:

Co-author Eric Rimm said that their study group had spent decades studying the health effects of diet quality and composition.