159. He said that I am ill.
Correct answer: B. He said that he was ill.
- A. (A) He said that I were ill.
- B. He said that he was ill.
- C. (C) He said that he is ill.
- D. (D) He said that I are ill,
Explanation
In reported speech, when reporting what someone said in the past, backshifting of verb tenses often occurs. Since the original statement "I am ill" was made in the present tense, when reporting it in past tense, we use "was" instead of "am". Therefore, the correct option is "He said that he was ill."
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About Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct speech gives a speaker’s exact words, whereas indirect speech reports the meaning without quotation marks. Questions cover reporting verbs, pronoun changes, tense backshift, time and place expressions, punctuation, and the transformation of questions, commands and requests, including cases where backshift is not required.
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