In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct speech. Out of the four alternatives, select the one that best expresses the same meaning in Indirect speech. Direct speech: The preacher said, "May God grant peace to the departed!"

Introduction / Context:
This reported speech question involves an optative sentence, that is, a sentence expressing a wish or prayer. The direct speech uses "May God grant peace to the departed!", a common form of prayer. When converting such sentences into Indirect speech, we need to pay attention to the reporting verb, tense changes, and how to express the wish correctly in a reported form.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Direct sentence: "The preacher said, \"May God grant peace to the departed!\""
• The reporting verb is "said" in the simple past.
• The original sentence is not a statement or question but a prayer or wish addressed to God.
• The options offer different choices of reporting verb ("said", "prays", "prayed") and different tense and structure in the subordinate clause.

Concept / Approach:
For sentences beginning with "May ..." expressing a wish or prayer, the reporting verb in Indirect speech is usually changed to "prayed", "wished" or "hoped" depending on context. Because the reporting verb "said" is in the past tense, we typically use "prayed" in the past and backshift "may" to "would" in the reported clause. The structure "that God would grant peace to the departed" correctly expresses a reported prayer. Therefore, the best Indirect speech is "The preacher prayed that God would grant peace to the departed."

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Identify the nature of the original sentence: it is a prayer, not a simple statement. Thus, the reporting verb "said" should change to "prayed" in Indirect speech.Step 2: Keep the subject "The preacher" and move the reporting clause to the beginning: "The preacher prayed that ..."Step 3: Transform "May God grant peace to the departed" into a subordinate clause. The typical backshift is from "may" to "would", giving "that God would grant peace to the departed."Step 4: Combine the parts: "The preacher prayed that God would grant peace to the departed." This corresponds exactly to option B.Step 5: Check other options to ensure they are incorrect in tense or structure.

Verification / Alternative check:
Examine option A: "The preacher prays that God will grant peace to the departed." This uses the present tense "prays" and "will", which would only be correct if the reporting verb in the original sentence were in the present tense, not "said". The exam expects backshifting to past forms. Option C, "The preacher said that God may grant peace to the departed", keeps "said" but fails to convert "may" appropriately and loses the sense of prayer, sounding more like a statement about possibility. Option D is grammatically incomplete because it omits "that" and keeps "may" in a direct way, which is not proper reported speech.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A incorrectly changes the time reference to the present ("prays"), ignoring the past reporting verb. Option C retains "may", which normally backshifts to "might" or "would" when reported from the past, and does not clearly express a prayer. Option D breaks standard reported speech structure and would need quotation marks or an additional word to be correct. None of these capture both the optative nature and the correct tense sequence as well as option B does.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates often forget that sentences beginning with "May..." expressing wishes follow slightly different reporting rules from ordinary statements. They may also be tempted to keep "may" unchanged. In exam settings, however, it is safer to follow the conventional pattern: change "said" to "prayed" (or "wished") for a prayer and shift "may" to "would" in the reported clause. Remembering these patterns will help with many similar items in reported speech.

Final Answer:
The correct Indirect speech is "The preacher prayed that God would grant peace to the departed.", so option B is correct.