Question

Convert the sentence to indirect speech:

Mary said, "I am learning to drive the car that my dad has given me recently". [Advanced]

• A. Mary said that I am learning to drive the car that my dad has given me recently.
• B. Mary said that she was learning to drive the car that my dad has given me recently.
• C. Mary said that she was learning to drive the car that her dad had given her recently.
• D. Mary said that she is learning to drove the car that her dad had given her recently.

Answer 1

The correct option is C Mary said that she was learning to drive the car that her dad had given her recently.

When we're reporting a speech, we're narrating things that happened or were said in the past. So, the speech will go one tense back.

In reported speech, we add a reporting verb (usually 'said'), the subject changes in narration ('he', 'she' or 'they') and the related words also change.

Option C: For the reported speech, 'I' changes to 'she', as the point of view has changed. 'Am learning' is in the present continuous, and it changes to 'was learning', the past continuous. 'Has given' is in present perfect tense that changes to 'had given', past perfect.

So, the corrected reported speech for the sentence "I am learning to drive the car that my dad has given me recently" is:

'Mary said that she was learning to drive the car that her dad had given her recently.'

Hence option C is correct.

Option A: 'I' hasn't been changed to indirect speech, and even the verb forms 'am learning' and 'has given' haven't been changed to past tense.

Option B: The pronoun 'my' is 'my dad' hasn't been changed here.

Option D: 'Is' is a present tense verb that needs to be changed to past. Also, the verb 'drive' will not be changed to 'drove' since the verb form 'to drive' is an infinitive and does not express any tense. As a result, the meaning formed is incomplete.

Hence these options A, B and D are incorrect.