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Reported speech (threat/warning): Convert direct speech to correct indirect/reported speech Original direct sentence: "If you don't keep quiet I shall shoot you," he said to her in a calm voice. Preserve the conditional meaning and the calm tone; apply tense backshift and pronoun/time changes where required. Choose the option that gives the correct indirect narration.

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: He warned her calmly that he would shoot her if she didn't keep quiet.

Explanation:


Given data

  • Direct speech: "If you don't keep quiet I shall shoot you," he said to her, ‎in a calm voice.
  • Task: Choose the correct indirect/reported speech.


Concept/Approach
Rules for reporting: (1) Backshift future "shall" → "would" after a past reporting verb; (2) Convert imperative/threat into a reporting verb such as warned; (3) Change pronouns: "you" (addressed to her) → "her"; (4) Keep the conditional structure "if ... then ..."; (5) Adverb "calmly" may modify the reporting verb to preserve tone.


Step-by-step transformation
Reporting verb: "said to" + threat → "warned".Pronouns: "you" → "her".Tense: "shall shoot" → "would shoot".Negative: "don't keep quiet" → "didn't keep quiet".Tone: add "calmly" after the reporting verb.


Option analysis
(C) correctly applies all rules: "warned her calmly ... would shoot ... if she didn't keep quiet." ✅(A) Ungrammatical and illogical ("warned her to shoot").(B) Wrong pronouns/tense ("I shall" / "don't be").(D) Ungrammatical clause ("that be quiet") and wrong tense.


Final Answer
He warned her calmly that he would shoot her if she didn't keep quiet.

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