SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 2 · 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 13 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. She said, “I enjoy painting.”

(a)She said that she enjoys painting.
(b)She said that she enjoyed painting.
(c)She said she was enjoying painting.
(d)She said that she had enjoyed painting.

Answer

Why

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

Simple present enjoy → simple past enjoyed.
The speaker's I → she, and that introduces the reported clause.

Result: 'She said that she enjoyed painting.' → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

(a)
She said that she enjoys painting. — Enjoys skips the backshift. After past said, the simple present regularly moves to the simple past. The present is kept for a universal truth such as 'the sun rises in the east', which a personal liking is not.
(c)
She said she was enjoying painting. — Was enjoying is past continuous, the backshift of 'I am enjoying'. She used the simple present to state a liking, not an activity in progress, so it reports as simple past.
(d)
She said that she had enjoyed painting. — Had enjoyed goes two steps back. The past perfect reports an original 'I enjoyed' or 'I have enjoyed'. A simple present needs only one step, to enjoyed.

Concept

After a past reporting verb — said, told, asked — reported speech backshifts each tense one step:

simple present → simple past
present continuous → past continuous
present perfect or simple past → past perfect

Pronouns follow the reporter's point of view, so the speaker's I becomes she. The conjunction that is optional after said.

Everyday English sometimes keeps the present when the fact is still true at the moment of reporting ('She said she enjoys painting'). Nothing in the item signals that, and the key applies the regular backshift.

Key facts

After a past reporting verb, the simple present becomes the simple past: enjoy → enjoyed.
The present continuous (am enjoying) becomes the past continuous (was enjoying).
A universal truth keeps its present tense: He said that the sun rises in the east.
That after said is optional: 'She said she enjoyed painting' is equally correct.

Study next

The full backshift table, including will → would and can → couldUniversal truths and the no-backshift exceptionTime and place words in reported speech: this → that, now → then, today → that day

Common traps

Keeping enjoys because she presumably still enjoys painting — the key applies the regular backshift after said.
Picking had enjoyed by shifting two steps — the simple present moves only to the simple past.

The same one-step backshift is keyed at 13 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.22 ('Ravi said, “I like this pen.”' → 'Ravi said he liked that pen.') and 16 Sep 2025, 12:30, English Q.24, where 'I am reading' becomes 'he was reading'.

The exception is 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.21: 'The sun rises in the east' is a universal truth, and the key keeps rises.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

Topic: Narration — all 65 SSC CGL questions on it, every solved shift.