Change the following sentence from direct to indirect speech: Kunal said, "Tanu is coming this week." Choose the correctly reported form.

Introduction / Context:
This question tests the rules of converting direct speech into indirect (reported) speech. The direct sentence "Kunal said, 'Tanu is coming this week.'" is in the present continuous tense with a time expression "this week." When we report it later, we usually adjust the tense and the time reference to match the perspective of the reporter.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Direct speech: Kunal said, "Tanu is coming this week."
• Reporting verb: said (simple past).
• Reported clause: "Tanu is coming this week." (present continuous with a time expression).
• We assume normal backshifting rules of reported speech apply and that the reporting is done after the time of speaking.

Concept / Approach:
When the reporting verb is in the past tense ("said"), the tense inside the quotation usually shifts one step back. Present continuous ("is coming") generally changes to past continuous ("was coming"). Additionally, demonstrative time expressions like "this week" usually change to "that week" when the point of reference moves away from the time of speaking. Therefore, the correct reported form should use "was coming" and "that week."

Step-by-Step Solution:

Step 1: Identify the reporting clause: "Kunal said." We keep this as it is. Step 2: Introduce the conjunction "that" to link the reporting clause and the reported clause. Step 3: Change the subject pronoun if needed. Here "Tanu" is a proper noun and remains unchanged. Step 4: Backshift the tense from present continuous "is coming" to past continuous "was coming" because the reporting verb is in the past. Step 5: Change "this week" to "that week" to reflect the shift in time reference. Step 6: Combine everything: "Kunal said that Tanu was coming that week."

Verification / Alternative check:
The resulting sentence "Kunal said that Tanu was coming that week" is grammatically correct and follows standard reported speech rules. It clearly indicates that at some earlier time Kunal made a statement about Tanu's planned visit during a certain week. The phrase "that week" correctly points back to the week that was "this week" when Kunal spoke.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

Option B: "Kunal said that Tanu was coming this week." improperly keeps "this week," which is tied to the original speaker's time frame, not the reporter's. Option C: "Kunal says that Tanu is coming this week." uses present tense "says," which would be correct only if we were reporting while the statement is still current; this does not match the given direct sentence with "said." Option D: "Kunal said that Tanu was going to be coming this week." is unnecessarily wordy and still keeps "this week," which should change to "that week." Option E: "Kunal says that Tanu was coming that week." wrongly mixes "says" with "was coming," creating an inconsistent time frame.

Common Pitfalls:
Students often forget to adjust time expressions like "today," "tomorrow," "this week," or "next month" when moving to reported speech. Another mistake is mixing present and past tenses inappropriately. A good habit is to handle reported speech in two steps: first backshift the verb tense if the reporting verb is in the past, then adjust pronouns and time or place words to match the new perspective.

Final Answer:
The correct reported form is Kunal said that Tanu was coming that week.