SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 21 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 direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech. He said, “You must work hard.”

(a)He said I must work hard.
(b)He said that I had to work hard.
(c)He said that you must work hard.
(d)He said that I have to work hard.

Answer

Why

Correct — B. Two things change when the quote is reported.

you → I: the sentence names no listener, so the words are read as said to the person now reporting them.
must → had to: after the past reporting verb said, must of obligation backshifts to had to.

Option (b) makes both changes and joins the clause with that: 'He said that I had to work hard.'

Why the others are wrong

(a)
He said I must work hard. — must is left unchanged and that is dropped. Neither is a grammar error in everyday reporting, but (a) stops short of the backshift to had to that option (b) completes.
(c)
He said that you must work hard. — you and must are both carried over from the quote unchanged. Once the words are reported, the pronoun follows the listener, here the reporter, and (c) makes neither change.
(d)
He said that I have to work hard. — have to is present tense after the past verb said. It rewrites must as have to but never moves it into the past, so the conversion stops halfway short of had to.

Concept

After a past reporting verb such as said, the quoted verb moves back one step: can → could, will → would, have to → had to.

Must of obligation has no past form of its own, so it borrows had to. Grammars also allow must to stay unchanged, which is why option (a) is not an outright error.

Pronouns follow the people: you becomes whoever was addressed. The stem names no listener, and the keyed option reads it as the reporter, I.

Must can stay unchanged in reported speech. SSC's own indirect sentence at 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.23 reads 'The manager told the staff that deadlines must be followed strictly'.

So the case against (a) is completeness, not grammar: the key prefers the fully backshifted had to.

Key facts

After a past reporting verb, have to becomes had to, will becomes would, can becomes could.
Must has no past tense. In reported speech it either stays must or becomes had to.
That after said is optional: He said (that) I had to work hard.
Second-person pronouns change to match the person who was addressed.

Study next

Backshift of modals: may → might, shall → should, can → couldReporting verbs with an object: told me, asked meWhen backshift is optional: statements still true at the time of reporting

Common traps

Keeping you because the quote says you. The pronoun follows the listener, not the quoted words.
Stopping at have to, which swaps the modal without moving it into the past.

At 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.21 the listener is unnamed too, and 'What are you doing?' is keyed as 'He asked what I was doing.'

At 12 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.23, going the other way, the indirect 'told the staff that deadlines must be followed' is keyed with must unchanged in the direct speech.

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.

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