In this English grammar question on reported speech, a sentence in direct speech describes a future action and its consequence. Out of the four alternatives, select the option that best expresses the same idea in indirect speech: The farmer said, "I will be feeding the cows hence I will eat my lunch later."

Introduction / Context:
This item checks your ability to report a complex future statement that contains two coordinated future actions. In direct speech, the farmer explains that he will be busy feeding the cows and therefore will eat lunch later. When we report this sentence, both future forms need to be shifted correctly to show that the speaking occurred in the past. Handling more than one future verb and a causal connector like "hence" makes this question slightly more detailed, but the same core rules still apply.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• The reporting verb "said" is in the past tense.
• The quoted clause has two future forms with "will": "will be feeding" and "will eat".
• The conjunction "hence" expresses a reason or consequence between the two actions.
• The subject "I" refers to the farmer and must become "he" in reported speech.
• There is no explicit time word like "tomorrow", only the idea of "later".

Concept / Approach:
With a past reporting verb, future forms with "will" are normally converted to "would" in reported speech. Future continuous "will be feeding" changes to "would be feeding", and simple future "will eat" becomes "would eat". The causal connector "hence" stays in place because it still joins the two actions logically. The pronoun "I" is changed to "he" to refer back correctly to the farmer. We remove the comma and quotation marks and introduce the reported clause with the conjunction "that".

Step-by-Step Solution:
First, remove the comma and quotation marks and add "that" after "The farmer said". Second, change the pronoun "I" to "he" to reflect the fact that the speaker is the farmer. Third, convert "will be feeding the cows" to "would be feeding the cows" to show future in the past. Fourth, convert "will eat my lunch later" to "would eat his lunch later" so that both future actions are consistently backshifted. Fifth, keep the conjunction "hence" in the same position, preserving the reason why lunch will be eaten later.

Verification / Alternative check:
The sentence "The farmer said that he would be feeding the cows hence he would eat his lunch later" clearly presents both actions as future relative to the time of speaking in the past. The form "would be feeding" is the correct reported version of "will be feeding", and "would eat" is the correct reported version of "will eat". The pronouns and possessive adjectives have been changed to "he" and "his", and the logical link expressed by "hence" is still present. When read aloud, the sentence sounds natural and accurate.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A changes the first future clause correctly to "would be feeding" but leaves "will eat his lunch later" unchanged, so the tenses are inconsistent. Option C keeps "will be feeding" in the first clause and changes only the second clause, which again breaks the sequence of tenses rule. Option D leaves both future forms as "will", which does not show the expected backshift after a past reporting verb. Only option B consistently changes both future verbs to "would" and adjusts the pronouns, so it is the correct answer.

Common Pitfalls:
Candidates commonly focus on the first verb and forget that the second verb must also be backshifted. Another mistake is to overlook the need to change the possessive adjective from "my lunch" to "his lunch". Some learners may also remove or replace the word "hence", which slightly changes the tone of the sentence. A reliable strategy is to identify every finite verb inside the quotation and check each one for necessary tense changes, pronoun changes, and logical connectors before choosing an option.

Final Answer:
The option that correctly converts the given direct sentence into reported speech is: The farmer said that he would be feeding the cows hence he would eat his lunch later.