Question

In each of the following sentences, parts of the sentence are left blank. Beneath each sentence, different ways of completing the sentence are indicated. Choose the best alternative among them.
He told the teacher that ___________________.

• A. he was liked by the whole class
• B. you are liked by the whole class
• C. he is liked by the whole class
• D. you were liked by the whole class

Answer 1

The Correct Option is A

To determine the best alternative to complete the sentence "He told the teacher that ___________________.", we should understand the context of reported speech. In English, when transforming direct speech into reported speech, certain grammatical rules must be followed:

• Tense Backshifting: The tense in the reported clause is usually shifted back one step in the past. For example, present simple becomes past simple.
• Pronoun Changes: Pronouns should be adjusted according to the perspective of the speaker.

Considering these rules, let's analyze the options:

1. he was liked by the whole class: This uses past simple tense ("was liked"), which is correct for reported speech when the reporting verb "told" is in the past tense.
2. you are liked by the whole class: Here, "you" assumes the listener's perspective, which doesn't reflect the third-person perspective of "he" from the original sentence context.
3. he is liked by the whole class: The present tense "is liked" isn't shifted back to past tense, making this option incorrect.
4. you were liked by the whole class: Similar to option 2, "you" doesn't fit the pronoun perspective required in this context.

From this analysis, the best sentence completion is: he was liked by the whole class as it correctly applies tense backshifting and maintains consistent pronoun use.