Choose the correct indirect (reported) speech for: He said, “I wanted to come, but I was busy.”

Explanation

In a compound sentence joined by ‘but,’ each clause backshifts independently according to its own original tense, with both instances of the simple past, ‘wanted’ and ‘was,’ shifting further back to the past perfect, ‘had wanted’ and ‘had been.’ The conjunction ‘but’ itself remains unchanged, since only pronouns, tenses, and certain time or place words require adjustment in indirect speech. Explore more English MCQs on mcqstutor to keep practicing.