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English Language · Self Assessment

Practice Test: Direct & Indirect Narration

A 100-mark comprehensive practice paper covering direct speech, indirect speech, tense changes, pronoun and time-word changes, statements, questions, commands, longer sentences, and multi-sentence paragraph reporting — multiple choice, true/false, fill-in-the-blank, column matching, and short answer, all auto-graded instantly.

EDUSAMBAM Editorial Team · 45 questions · 100 marks · Instant self-assessment

Questions

100

Marks

Sections

100%

Auto-Graded

Section	Questions	Marks Each	Total
Section A — Multiple Choice	15	2	30
Section B — True / False	10	2	20
Section C — Fill in the Blank	10	2	20
Section D — Column Matching	5 pairs	2	10
Section E — Short Answer	5	4	20
Total	45	—	100

Fill-in-the-blank and short-answer questions are checked automatically against accepted answers — exact wording does not need to match, but the key term or idea should be present.

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Section A — Multiple Choice

30 marks

15 questions · 2 marks each.

1.What is direct speech?Basic2 pts

The exact words spoken by a person

A summary of what a person said

A question without a speaker

A sentence with no quotation marks

2.What punctuation normally encloses the exact words in direct speech?Basic2 pts

Brackets

Quotation marks

A semicolon

A hyphen

3.In indirect speech, the speaker's exact words are usually:Basic2 pts

Kept inside quotation marks

Reported without quotation marks

Written in capital letters

Placed after a colon

4.Which reporting verb is commonly used to report a statement?Basic2 pts

said

asked

shouted at

whether

5.Change to indirect speech: Ali said, “I am tired.”Intermediate2 pts

Ali said that I am tired.

Ali said that he was tired.

Ali says that he was tired.

Ali said that he is tired yesterday.

6.Change to indirect speech: Sara said, “I have finished my work.”Intermediate2 pts

Sara said that she had finished her work.

Sara said that she has finished my work.

Sara said that I had finished her work.

Sara said that she finished her work now.

7.Change to indirect speech: He said, “I will help you.”Intermediate2 pts

He said that I would help him.

He said that he would help me.

He said that he will help you.

He said that he helped me.

8.Change to indirect speech: She said, “I can solve this problem.”Intermediate2 pts

She said that she could solve that problem.

She said that she can solve this problem.

She said that I could solve that problem.

She said that she solved that problem.

9.Which change is normally made to “now” when reporting speech later?Intermediate2 pts

then

today

tomorrow

here

10.Which change is normally made to “this” in reported speech?Intermediate2 pts

that

these

here

now

11.Change to indirect speech: The teacher said, “Open your books.”Intermediate2 pts

The teacher said that open your books.

The teacher told the students to open their books.

The teacher asked that they opened books.

The teacher told the students opening their books.

12.Change to indirect speech: Mother said to me, “Do not waste your time.”Advanced2 pts

Mother told me not to waste my time.

Mother said me do not waste your time.

Mother told that I did not waste time.

Mother asked me not wasting my time.

13.How is a yes/no question commonly reported?Intermediate2 pts

Using whether or if

Using that only

Using to only

Using because only

14.Change to indirect speech: He said to me, “Where do you live?”Advanced2 pts

He asked me where I lived.

He said to me where did I live.

He asked me where do I live.

He told me where I lived?

15.When a reporting verb is in the past, a present tense in the reported clause will often:Advanced2 pts

Change to a corresponding past form

Always remain present

Change to future perfect

Be removed completely

Section B — True / False

20 marks

10 questions · 2 marks each.

16.In direct speech, the speaker's exact words are reported.Basic2 pts

True

False

17.Indirect speech normally uses quotation marks around the reported words.Basic2 pts

True

False

18.“I am busy,” he said. can be changed to “He said that he was busy.”Intermediate2 pts

True

False

19.Pronouns may need to change when direct speech becomes indirect speech.Intermediate2 pts

True

False

20.“Tomorrow” can become “the next day” when the reporting time is later.Intermediate2 pts

True

False

21.Commands are normally reported with a that-clause only.Intermediate2 pts

True

False

22.A yes/no question can be introduced by whether or if in indirect speech.Intermediate2 pts

True

False

23.In reported questions, normal statement word order is generally used.Advanced2 pts

True

False

24.Every direct-speech sentence must change its tense when reported.Advanced2 pts

True

False

25.A paragraph containing several sentences may be reported by changing each sentence carefully while preserving the overall meaning.Advanced2 pts

True

False

Section C — Fill in the Blank

20 marks

10 questions · 2 marks each. Type the missing word or term.

26.The exact words spoken by a person are called ______ speech.Basic2 pts

27.Reported speech without the speaker's exact words is called ______ speech.Basic2 pts

28.Quotation ______ are commonly used in direct speech.Basic2 pts

29.In “He said that he was ill,” the word “that” introduces the reported ______.Intermediate2 pts

30.The past form of “am/is” used in reported speech is usually ______.Intermediate2 pts

31.The past form of “have” in “I have finished” is ______ in reported speech.Intermediate2 pts

32.“Can” commonly changes to ______ in reported speech when backshift is required.Intermediate2 pts

33.“Today” may change to ______ when the reporting time is later.Advanced2 pts

34.A command is commonly reported with a reporting verb followed by an infinitive with ______.Advanced2 pts

35.A negative command is commonly reported with ______ + infinitive.Advanced2 pts

Section D — Column Matching

10 marks

Use the ▲ ▼ buttons to reorder Column B until each row lines up with the correct term in Column A. 2 marks per correct pair.

36–40.Match each term to its correct definition.Advanced10 pts

Column A

Direct speech

Indirect speech

Backshift

Reported question

Reported command

Column B

A question reported using statement word order

The exact words spoken by a person

Changing a tense to an appropriate past form when required

A command reported using an infinitive structure

A speaker's words reported without quotation marks

Section E — Short Answer

20 marks

5 questions · 4 marks each. Answer in one or two sentences.

41.Change this into indirect speech: “I have been waiting here for two hours,” Ahmed said.Advanced4 pts

42.Change this into indirect speech: “Please help me with this exercise,” the student said to the teacher.Advanced4 pts

43.Change this into indirect speech: “Why are you carrying this heavy bag?” the mother asked her son.Advanced4 pts

44.Report the following two-sentence speech as one coherent report: “I am leaving now. I will call you tomorrow,” Bilal said.Advanced4 pts

45.Report the following paragraph carefully, preserving its meaning: “I have completed my project. I worked on it for three weeks. I will present it tomorrow,” Maria said.Advanced4 pts

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