Question

Select the correct option to complete the sentence in indirect speech:
The tourist said, "It was snowing in Shimla."
The tourist said that it _______ in Shimla.

• A. Was snowing
• B. Has being snowing
• C. Had been snowing
• D. Snowed

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

Had been snowing

As the given sentence is in the past continuous tense, we will convert it into the past perfect continuous tense in the indirect speech.

Option A - 'Was snowing' can't be used here as it is already used in the direct speech. We can't use the same tense in the indirect speech unless it is a universal fact. Thus option A is incorrect.

Option B - 'Has being snowing' is grammatically incorrect as we use 'been' and not 'being' to form a sentence in the present perfect continuous tense. However, we need the sentence in the past perfect continuous, hence we can't use 'has being snowing' here. Thus option B is incorrect.

Option D - 'Snowed' is used to form a sentence in the simple past tense. Thus option D is incorrect.

Option C - 'Had been snowing' is used to represent the given sentence in the past perfect continuous tense. Thus option C is the correct answer.

'The tourist said that it had been snowing in Shimla.'