SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 12 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 22 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech. He said, “I am not feeling well.”

(a)He said that he is not feeling well.
(b)He said that he was not feeling well.
(c)He said that he didn’t felt well.
(d)He said he not feeling well.

Answer

Why

Correct — B. The reporting verb said is past, so the reported words move one tense back.

'I am not feeling well' is present continuous. One step back is past continuous: 'was not feeling'.

The speaker's I becomes he, because someone else now reports his words. With that as the connector: 'He said that he was not feeling well' → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
He said that he is not feeling well. — Keeps the present is after the past verb said. The regular backshift turns am into was, and nothing in the sentence marks the illness as still going on.
(c)
He said that he didn’t felt well. — Didn't felt marks the past twice: after did, the verb takes its base form, didn't feel. It also loses the continuous 'feeling' of the original.
(d)
He said he not feeling well. — 'He not feeling well' has no verb. That may be dropped from a reported statement, but the continuous form needs its auxiliary: he was not feeling well.

Concept

Reporting a statement after a past verb such as said changes three things.

Tense moves one step back: am/is → was, are → were, have done → had done, will → would.

Pronouns follow the people: the speaker's I becomes he or she when someone else reports it.

The connector that introduces the reported statement, and it may be left out. An auxiliary such as was may not.

In everyday English the present can stay when the situation is still true as you report it: 'He said he is not feeling well' — he is still ill. Nothing here signals that, and the key takes the regular backshift.

Key facts

After a past reporting verb, the present continuous (am/is/are + -ing) becomes the past continuous (was/were + -ing).
After did or didn't, the main verb takes its base form: didn't feel, not didn't felt.
The that of a reported statement can be dropped, but an auxiliary such as was cannot.

Study next

The backshift table: present perfect → past perfect, will → wouldReported questions: statement order plus backshiftUniversal truths, which keep the present tense when reported

Common traps

Choosing 'he is not feeling well' because it sounds natural in speech — the key wants the backshift after said.
Shifting to the past but writing didn't felt, which marks the past twice.

The same present-continuous backshift is keyed at 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.21: 'What are you doing?' becomes 'what I was doing'.

The exception is keyed at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.21, where the universal truth 'The sun rises in the east' keeps its present tense.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Narration — all 23 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.