He said, "By God, I am speaking the truth."
Correct answer: A. He swore that he was speaking the truth.
- A. He swore that he was speaking the truth.
- B. He sweared that he was speaking the truth.
- C. He swore that you were speaking the truth.
- D. He swore that he had spoken the truth.
Explanation
When converting direct speech to indirect speech:- "He said" becomes "He swore" to indicate the strong emphasis on the truth.- "By God" is an oath that emphasizes the truth, which is captured by "swore".- "I" remains "he" to maintain the correct pronoun perspective.- "am speaking" becomes "was speaking" to change the verb tense from present continuous to past continuous, which is necessary in indirect speech.
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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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