In this direct and indirect speech question, choose the correct indirect form of the sentence: He said to the dentist, "I have a toothache."

Introduction / Context:
Questions on direct and indirect speech check whether you can correctly transform quoted speech into reported speech. Here, the original sentence is "He said to the dentist, 'I have a toothache.'" We must choose the indirect form that preserves meaning, maintains correct tense sequence, and uses proper pronouns. This is a common type of question in English grammar sections of many competitive exams.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Direct speech: He said to the dentist, "I have a toothache."
• Reporting verb: said to, which becomes told in indirect speech.
• Reported clause: "I have a toothache."
• We assume that the reporting verb is in the past tense, so we must apply backshifting rules.

Concept / Approach:
When the reporting verb is in the past tense ("said"), the tense in the reported clause usually shifts one step back in time. Present simple "have" becomes past simple "had". Additionally, the first person pronoun "I" in the direct speech refers to "he", the speaker, so in indirect speech it must become "he". The structure "said to" usually changes to "told" followed by the person. The basic pattern is: He told the dentist that he had a toothache.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Change "said to" into "told", giving "He told the dentist".Step 2: Introduce the conjunction "that" to connect the reporting clause to the reported content.Step 3: Replace "I" from the quotation with "he" because the original speaker is "he".Step 4: Apply backshift to the verb: "have" becomes "had" when reported from a past reporting verb.Step 5: Combine these pieces to get "He told the dentist that he had a toothache."

Verification / Alternative check:
Test each option against these rules. Option C "He told the dentist that he had a toothache" matches all requirements: correct reporting verb, correct conjunction, proper pronoun, and correctly shifted tense. Options that keep "I" instead of "he" are wrong because they fail to adjust the point of view. Options that change the tense improperly or add extra words like "gotten" without need also deviate from standard grammar rules for indirect speech.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Option A "He told the dentist that I have a toothache." keeps "I" and "have", which does not match the reported perspective and does not shift the tense.
• Option B "He told the dentist that he had gotten a toothache." adds "gotten", which implies acquiring the toothache, and changes the simple state into an action, which is not required.
• Option D "He told the dentist that I have a gotten toothache." mixes first person and an awkward verb form, making it grammatically and stylistically incorrect.

Common Pitfalls:
Students often forget to adjust pronouns and tenses according to the narrator's perspective and the time reference. They may simply copy the original clause after "that" without any changes. The safe approach is always to identify who originally spoke the words, whom they were speaking to, and then shift pronouns and tenses according to reported speech rules.

Final Answer:
The correct indirect speech form is "He told the dentist that he had a toothache."