SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION/DIALOGUE CONVERSION (SOLVED) Q1. Read the conversation given below. Complete the report that follows on the basis of the conversation. Father: Are you going somewhere? Son: I am going to buy a gift for my friend. It is his birthday tomorrow. Father: Okay. What have you decided to buy for him? Son: I saw him upset over his broken cricket bat. So, I think a cricket bat would be the best gift for him. Father asked his son (a)_________________________. The son answered that (b)_________________________ as it (c)_________________________. On being asked what he had decided to buy for his friend, he replied that (d)_________________________ and so he thought a cricket bat would be the best gift for him. HOW TO SOLVE: This question primarily tests the knowledge of the rules of conversion from direct to indirect (or reported) speech. In reported speech, a verb in present continuous tense changes to its past continuous form. So, blanks (a) and (b) will have to be filled with past continuous tense. Since, the pronouns also change according to the subject of the sentence, the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘I’ will change to ‘he’. Thus, 'if he was going somewhere' fits blank (a) while 'he was going to buy a gift for his friend' fits blank (b). In reported speech, present tense changes to past tense. So, for blank (c) ‘is’ will change to ‘was’. As the expressions of time also undergo a change in reported speech, ‘tomorrow’ will change to ‘the next day’. Thus, 'was his birthday the next day' fits the third blank. A verb in its past simple form changes to its past perfect form in reported speech. So, ‘saw’ will change to ‘had seen’. Since the pronouns also change according to the subject of the sentence, the pronouns ‘I’ will change to ‘he’. Thus, 'he had seen him upset over his broken cricket bat' fills the last blank appropriately. Answer: (a) if he was going somewhere (b) he was going to buy a gift for his friend (c) was his birthday the next day (d) he had seen him upset over his broken cricket bat Q2. On the basis of the public messages and newspaper headlines given below, complete the sentences that follow. a) NO SMOKING Smoking inside the airport premises _________________________. b) PLEASE FILL UP THE FORM You _________________________ fill up the form to register for the course. c) RAINFALL PREDICTED India Meteorological Department (IMD) _________________________a 14mm rainfall over the weekend in Delhi. d) HUNDREDS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH More than three hundred people _________________________ when a passenger plane _________________________ on the runway in Mangalore airport. HOW TO SOLVE: a) The sentence has to be in present tense as it is a public notice. Hence, the verb form of ‘to be’ has to be added. As the subject ‘smoking’ is in singular form, the verb also has to be singular. Thus, the verb ‘is’ will be used. Now, we need to think of an appropriate verb. Thus, we can use either 'is prohibited' or 'is not allowed' to fill the blank. b) The sentence has to be in the present tense as it is an instruction where time is not indicated. Hence, the verb form of ‘to be’ will be used. The pronoun ‘you’ takes the plural form of the verb ‘to be’. Thus, ‘are’ will be used here. Since, the message is in the form of a request (as indicated by the word 'please'), the word ‘requested’ along with the preposition ‘to’ will be added. Thus, a phrase that replaces the blank appropriately can be 'are requested to'. c) The newspaper headline suggests that a prediction has been made about rainfall in Delhi. In this blank, the verb will take its present perfect form. Thus, the answer will be ‘has predicted’. d) Since the headline reports an incident of the past, the blanks will take the past forms of the verbs used. Thus, the first blank will either be filled with ‘were killed’ or ‘died’ and the subsequent blank will be filled with the verb ‘crashed’. Answer: a) is not permissible b) are requested to c) has predicted d) were killed/died, crashed

                        SENTENCE TRANSFORMATION/DIALOGUE CONVERSION

                                                      (SOLVED)

        Q1. Read the conversation given below. Complete the report that follows on the basis of the conversation.

Father: Are you going somewhere?
Son: I am going to buy a gift for my friend. It is his birthday tomorrow.
Father: Okay. What have you decided to buy for him?
Son: I saw him upset over his broken cricket bat. So, I think a cricket bat would be the best gift for him.

Father asked his son (a)_________________________. The son answered that (b)_________________________ as it (c)_________________________. On being asked what he had decided to buy for his friend, he replied that (d)_________________________ and so he thought a cricket bat would be the best gift for him.

HOW TO SOLVE:

This question primarily tests the knowledge of the rules of conversion from direct to indirect (or reported) speech. 

In reported speech, a verb in present continuous tense changes to its past continuous form. So, blanks (a) and (b) will have to be filled with past continuous tense. Since, the pronouns also change according to the subject of the sentence, the pronouns ‘you’ and ‘I’ will change to ‘he’. 

Thus, 'if he was going somewhere' fits blank (a) while 'he was going to buy a gift for his friend' fits blank (b). 

In reported speech, present tense changes to past tense. So, for blank (c) ‘is’ will change to ‘was’. As the expressions of time also undergo a change in reported speech, ‘tomorrow’ will change to ‘the next day’. Thus, 'was his birthday the next day' fits the third blank.

A verb in its past simple form changes to its past perfect form in reported speech. So, ‘saw’ will change to ‘had seen’. Since the pronouns also change according to the subject of the sentence, the pronouns ‘I’ will change to ‘he’. Thus, 'he had seen him upset over his broken cricket bat' fills the last blank appropriately.

Answer: 

(a)    if he was going somewhere
(b) he was going to buy a gift for his friend
(c) was his birthday the next day
(d) he had seen him upset over his broken cricket bat

 Q2. On the basis of the public messages and newspaper headlines given below, complete the sentences that follow. 

a) NO SMOKING

Smoking inside the airport premises _________________________.

b) PLEASE FILL UP THE FORM

You _________________________ fill up the form to register for the course.

c) RAINFALL PREDICTED

India Meteorological Department (IMD) _________________________a 14mm rainfall over the weekend in Delhi.

d) HUNDREDS KILLED IN PLANE CRASH

More than three hundred people _________________________ when a passenger plane _________________________ on the runway in Mangalore airport.

HOW TO SOLVE:

a) The sentence has to be in present tense as it is a public notice. Hence, the verb form of ‘to be’ has to be added. As the subject ‘smoking’ is in singular form, the verb also has to be singular. Thus, the verb ‘is’ will be used. Now, we need to think of an appropriate verb. Thus, we can use either 'is prohibited' or 'is not allowed' to fill the blank.

b) The sentence has to be in the present tense as it is an instruction where time is not indicated. Hence, the verb form of ‘to be’ will be used. The pronoun ‘you’ takes the plural form of the verb ‘to be’. Thus, ‘are’ will be used here. Since, the message is in the form of a request (as indicated by the word 'please'), the word ‘requested’ along with the preposition ‘to’ will be added. Thus, a phrase that replaces the blank appropriately can be 'are requested to'.

c) The newspaper headline suggests that a prediction has been made about rainfall in Delhi. In this blank, the verb will take its present perfect form. Thus, the answer will be ‘has predicted’.

d) Since the headline reports an incident of the past, the blanks will take the past forms of the verbs used. Thus, the first blank will either be filled with ‘were killed’ or ‘died’ and the subsequent blank will be filled with the verb ‘crashed’.
 

Answer: 

a) is not permissible
b) are requested to
c) has predicted
d) were killed/died, crashed