SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 15 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 23 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 indirect speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding direct speech. He said that he wished to speak with the manager.

(a)“I wish to speak with the manager,” he said.
(b)“I want to speak with the manager,” he said.
(c)“I wished to speak with the manager,” he said.
(d)“May I speak with the manager?” he said.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. Turning indirect speech back into direct speech reverses each change the report made.

Pronoun: he → I, as the speaker now talks for himself.
Tense: past wished → present wish, undoing the shift after said.
Sentence type: said that reports a statement, so the direct form stays a statement.

That gives "I wish to speak with the manager," he said → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
“I want to speak with the manager,” he said. — Want is a different verb from the reported wished. Going back to direct speech reverses the tense, not the choice of word: wished returns as wish.
(c)
“I wished to speak with the manager,” he said. — Keeps the past wished. Under the standard conversion, I wished would be reported as he had wished, so the report's wished comes from a present wish.
(d)
“May I speak with the manager?” he said. — Turns a statement into a question. May I speak with the manager? would be reported as he asked if he might speak with the manager, not he said that he wished to.

Concept

Indirect to direct is the backshift in reverse: past → present, would → will, and past perfect → past or present perfect. The reporter's pronouns go back to the speaker's own.

The reporting verb shows the sentence type. Said that introduces a statement, asked if or asked whether a question, and told ... to an order.

Here tense and person move, and the speaker's own verb, wish, stays.

Key facts

Converting indirect to direct speech reverses the backshift: past becomes present, would becomes will.
Said that introduces a reported statement, and asked if or whether introduces a reported question.
The reported verb returns as itself: wished becomes wish, not a synonym such as want.

Study next

The reverse backshift: would → will, could → can, was → isReported questions and requests: asked if, asked whether, mightPronoun and possessive changes between direct and indirect speech

Common traps

Keeping the past wished inside the quotation marks.
Picking want as a modern equivalent of wish — the report's own verb has to come back.
Reading the polite tone of wished as a request and choosing the question form.

The same reversal is keyed at 12 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.23, where he said that he would join the meeting after lunch returns as "I will join the meeting after lunch," he said.

At 14 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.23, the reported needed returns as need: "Students need to submit their papers before Friday," the professor remarked.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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