Question

I told him that he was not working hard.

• A. I said to him, "You are not working hard."
• B. I told to him, "You are not working hard."
• C. I said, "You are not working hard."
• D. I said to him, "He is not working hard."

Hint:

When converting from reported speech to direct speech, ensure that the tenses are consistent with the original meaning and context.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Step 1: Understanding the sentence.
The sentence is in reported speech and needs to be converted into direct speech while maintaining the tense and structure. The original sentence "he was not working hard" is in past continuous tense.
Step 2: Analyzing the options.
(A) I said to him, "You are not working hard." This is incorrect because it doesn't maintain the past continuous tense.
(B) I told to him, "You are not working hard." This is incorrect due to the unnecessary use of "to" after "told."
(C) I said, "You are not working hard." This is also incorrect as it doesn't reflect the original past tense.
(D) I said to him, "He is not working hard." Correct — This option reflects the proper change from indirect to direct speech, keeping the meaning intact.
Step 3: Conclusion.
The correct answer is (D) I said to him, "He is not working hard." as it properly represents the shift from indirect to direct speech.

Answer 2

Let's check each option by seeing whether it keeps the reporting verb, the reference to the person spoken about, and the tense consistent with the original indirect sentence.

1. I said to him, "You are not working hard.": This changes the reference from "he" to "you," which shifts who the quoted sentence appears to be describing compared to the original wording of the indirect sentence.
2. I told to him, "You are not working hard.": The construction "told to him" is not standard; "told" should not be followed by "to" when it already takes a personal object, so this option is grammatically flawed.
3. I said, "You are not working hard.": This drops the listener "him" from the sentence entirely, losing information present in the original indirect version.
4. I said to him, "He is not working hard.": This keeps "said to him" as the reporting structure and keeps the third-person reference "he" consistent with how the person was described in the original indirect sentence, carrying the original wording "he was not working hard" through to the direct quote with only the tense adjusted.

Keeping the reporting structure and the original third-person reference intact together point to the fourth option.

Therefore, the correct answer is I said to him, "He is not working hard."