Question

Fill in the blank with the appropriate tense:
He said that he ______ to go. (want)

• A. has been wanting
• B. wanted
• C. will want
• D. None of the above

Answer 1

The correct option is B wanted

Tense is used to provide more information about an action ( its time, completeness, etc.). Option B, "wanted", is the correct answer as the action of speaking is finished ( so, we use 'said'). Therefore, what he said must use the simple past tense too.

The other options are incorrect because the present perfect continuous or the future tenses cannot be used here. Option D is incorrect because the correct answer has already been mentioned.