NDA (I) 2025 General Ability Test · Question 7 of 150

Correct — B, Nitin wondered before his brother that it was a beautiful painting. Reporting the exclamation in the past needs the verb to back-shift ('is' becomes 'was') and the exclamatory 'What a...' to be recast as a plain statement. Option (b) is the only choice that back-shifts correctly and keeps the meaning, even though 'wondered before' reads a little awkwardly.

• (a)Nitin wondered to his brother that what a beautiful painting it was — Keeps the exclamatory 'what a beautiful painting', which should be recast as a plain statement in indirect speech.
• (c)Nitin exclaimed that it is a beautiful painting — Fails to back-shift — 'it is a beautiful painting' keeps the present tense where the past is needed.
• (d)Nitin asked his brother whether it was beautiful painting — Turns the exclamation into a yes/no question ('asked... whether'), changing the meaning.

Reporting an exclamatory sentence back-shifts the tense and rewrites 'What a...!' as a declarative statement.

No directly related past PYQ was found.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Report: She said, 'What a lovely day it is!'

  • (a)She exclaimed that it was a lovely day
  • (b)She exclaimed that what a lovely day it is
  • (c)She asked whether it was a lovely day
  • (d)She said that it is a lovely day

  Answer(a) She exclaimed that it was a lovely day — recast the exclamation and back-shift 'is' to 'was'.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  When an exclamatory sentence is reported, 'What a...!' is best rewritten as —

  • (a)a question
  • (b)a plain statement
  • (c)a command
  • (d)another exclamation

  Answer(b) a plain statement — the exclamation becomes a declarative clause.