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 mentioned that his team would start the project next week.

Correct — A. Turning indirect speech back into direct speech means undoing what reporting changed.

The reported verb is would start. Would is the backshifted form of will, so inside the quotation marks it returns to will start.

The pronoun returns too: his team is the speaker's own, so it becomes My team. That gives He mentioned, "My team will start the project next week." → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

• (b)
  He mentioned, "My team is starting the project next week." — Is starting is present continuous. Reported after mentioned, it would become was starting, not the would start the given sentence has. Would points back to will.
• (c)
  He mentioned, "My team would be starting the project next week." — Would be starting keeps the reported form inside the quotation marks, so nothing has been undone. It also adds a continuous -ing the given sentence does not have.
• (d)
  He said, "The project shall be started next week." — The project shall be started turns the sentence passive and drops his team, the doer the given sentence names. It also changes mentioned to said.

After a past reporting verb, indirect speech moves each tense one step back: will → would, is → was, was → had been. Direct speech runs that change in reverse.

Trace each piece of the indirect sentence to its source. Would start came from will start. His team, said by the man about himself, came from my team.

Next week is already in the indirect sentence and carries over unchanged. Had the report said the following week, the direct form would restore next week.

Key facts

• Backshift after a past reporting verb: will → would, can → could, is → was, was → had been.
• Converting indirect speech to direct reverses the backshift: would → will.
• A third-person pronoun that refers to the speaker returns to first person: his team → my team.
• In the textbook direct-to-indirect table, next week becomes the following week.

Common traps

• Leaving would inside the quotation marks, which keeps the reported form
• Forgetting to change his to my when the speaker is talking about his own team

No directly related past PYQ was found.