Choose the correct indirect (reported) speech for: He said, “I had already eaten.”

Explanation

Since the direct speech is already in the past perfect tense, ‘had already eaten,’ it does not backshift any further, as the past perfect is already the most backshifted past form available in English. This is why ‘He said that he had already eaten’ correctly keeps the tense unchanged, representing another exception to the general backshifting pattern, similar to ‘used to.’ Explore more English MCQs on mcqstutor to keep practicing.