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GATE 2023 EE GA Q.1: solution and answer

GATE 2023 · EEGA Q.1 · 1 mark · MCQ

Rafi told Mary, “I am thinking of watching a film this weekend.”

The following reports the above statement in indirect speech:

Rafi told Mary that he ______ of watching a film that weekend.

  1. (A)

    thought

  2. (B)

    is thinking

  3. (C)

    am thinking

  4. (D)

    was thinking

See the question in the paper
GATE 2023 EE GA question 1Tap to open full size

Answer and solution

ANSWER

(D) was thinking. The sentence reads: Rafi told Mary that he was thinking of watching a film that weekend.

Official answer: DSource: Official answer key, GATE 2023 EE (IIT Kanpur)

  1. The reporting verb "told" is in the past tense, so the verb in the reported clause shifts one tense back (the backshift rule of indirect speech).

  2. The verb in the direct speech, "am thinking", is present continuous. Backshifting present continuous gives past continuous: am/is thinking was thinking.

  3. The pronoun changes with the speaker: "I" (Rafi) becomes "he". "He" takes "was", never "am", so (C) "am thinking" is ungrammatical. That rules out (C).

  4. (B) "is thinking" stays in the present tense after a past reporting verb, so it breaks the backshift. The rest of the sentence has already shifted ("this weekend" "that weekend"), so the verb has to shift too.

  5. (A) "thought" is simple past, so it loses the continuous (ongoing) sense of "am thinking". It would be the reported form of "I think" or "I thought", not of "I am thinking". Backshift changes the tense but keeps the aspect.

  6. Hence: Rafi told Mary that he was thinking of watching a film that weekend. The answer is (D).

KEY IDEA

When the reporting verb is in the past tense ("told"), indirect speech moves the reported verb one tense back and keeps its aspect. Present continuous "am thinking" becomes past continuous "was thinking". The pronoun ("I" to "he") and the time expression ("this weekend" to "that weekend") shift along with it.

WATCH OUT FOR

Choosing (A) "thought": it is past tense, but it drops the continuous aspect, so it reports "I think", not "I am thinking". Choosing (B) "is thinking" is also wrong because it skips the backshift even though "this weekend" has already become "that weekend". (C) "am thinking" keeps the first-person verb after the pronoun has changed to "he".

From the GATE 2023 EE paper. Every question of this paper · Download the full paper · All 32 Grammar & vocabulary questions, with notes

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