0

Please tell me what will be the indirect-speech form of this sentence:

The boys shouted, "Don Bosco Public School well played?"

The question mark confuses me.

Here is the original question:
   
with options:                (manually transcribed)

  • (a) The boys asked for Don Bosco Public School well played.
  • (b) The boys applauded Don Bosco Public School saying that it had played well.
  • (c) The boys cried for Don Bosco Public School well played.
  • (d) The boys cheered for Don Bosco Public School well played.
Improve this question
5
  • Do you mean "Don boscho school played well?"
    – Nick
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 18:04
  • 1
    @Nick Well played is an idiomatic compliment that a particular maneuver was executed with skill.
    – deadrat
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 18:33
  • The current sentence isnt grammatical though - switching those two words would make it so.
    – Nick
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 18:37
  • The question mark is confusing you because "Don Boscho School well played?" is completely unidiomatic for any dialect of English I know of. I suspect it's a typo and should be an exclamation point.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 14:45
  • @Peter Shor: ok
    – Andrew Symonds
    Commented Apr 30, 2016 at 14:49

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

I've assumed that the question mark is a typo and intended to be an exclamation point, as other commenters suggest. "Well played!" would be the boys shouting that the Don Bosco Public School played well. In indirect speech something like

The boys shouted that Don Bosco Public School had played well

would convey a similar meaning. In the image you linked, answer b is your closest option to this.

Improve this answer
1
  • Absolutely, that is the correct way to write the sentence as reported speech. None of the choices in the picture is right.
    – Lambie
    Commented Jul 30, 2016 at 0:13
-1

I believe the correct grammatical reading would be, "Don Bosco School, well played!"

If so, the indirect speech would be an assumed subject in the second clause. The Deep Structure of the sentence would read something like this: "Don Bosco School, [that particular move, or that series of moves, was] well played."

I think that's what you mean. If you're looking for an indirect object here, I can't find it.

Improve this answer
4
  • No, the question was about indirect speech, not indirect objects. Direct speech is a quote: The boys shouted, "Don Boscho School plays well!" Indirect speech is a report of the quote: The boys shouted that Don Boscho School played well. (I backshifted play to past tense but that isn't required.) The problem is that the original quote doesn't contain a finite verb, and the relative clause of indirect speech requires one.
    – deadrat
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 18:27
  • @deadrat - Why did you keep the comma between 'shouted' and the quote? Isn't the quoted speech the direct object of 'shouted'?
    – AmI
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 20:16
  • @AmI Comma-quote is the standard way to represent direct speech. I'm not sure that quoted speech fits into the direct object slot the way instructions would in He shouted instructions.
    – deadrat
    Commented Apr 29, 2016 at 21:36
  • Thanks; the comma seems redundant... You say, "goodbye", and I say "hello."
    – AmI
    Commented May 2, 2016 at 20:41

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .