9.(ii) Report the conversation given below by filling in the blanks to complete the following paragraph : Teacher : Why didn't you submit your homework yesterday ? Student : I am sorry ma'am. I wasn't feeling well. The student replied that he was _.
9.(ii) Report the conversation given below by filling in the blanks to complete the following paragraph : Teacher : Why didn't you submit your homework yesterday ? Student : I am sorry ma'am. I wasn't feeling well. The student replied that he was _.
sorry and (that) he had not been feeling well - correct because 'was' completes with 'sorry' (from 'I am sorry'), and the reason clause takes pronoun change (I->he) with back-shifted tense (wasn't feeling -> had not been feeling).
Marking Scheme
- 11 mark: 'sorry' + correctly reported reason with pronoun change and tense back-shift ('had not been feeling well').
- 2Accept 'sorry as he had not been feeling well' or 'sorry and that he was not feeling well' (un-shifted continuous is commonly accepted).
- 3Accept 'sorry and (that) he had not been well'.
- 4No mark if the clause is left as a question, if 'I' is retained, or if it does not connect sensibly to 'The student replied that he was...'.
Hint
Complete 'he was' with 'sorry', then add the reason: 'and (that) he had not been feeling well.'
Quick Oral Answer
The student replied that he was sorry and that he had not been feeling well.
Analysis & Explanation
The second blank reports the student's apology and reason, so it is handled as a reported statement, not a question.
Concept
- The given frame 'The student replied that he was _' already supplies 'was', completed naturally by the adjective 'sorry'.
- The reason clause is joined with 'and (that)', with pronoun change 'I' -> 'he' and tense back-shift 'wasn't feeling' -> 'had not been feeling' (past perfect continuous), since the reporting verb 'replied' is in the past.
Common mistakes
- Leaving the tense un-shifted ('was not feeling well') - commonly accepted but not the fully correct back-shifted form.
- Forgetting the pronoun change from 'I' to 'he'.
Real-world use
- Correctly reporting an excuse or apology is exactly what is needed when relaying messages, writing minutes of a meeting, or summarising a conversation in an email.
Common Mistakes
- 1Retaining the first-person pronoun 'I' instead of changing it to 'he'.
- 2Ignoring the tense back-shift and writing 'he was not feeling good' with no shift, when 'had not been feeling well' is the fully correct form.
- 3Turning the reply into a fresh direct quote ('I am sorry') instead of blending it into the reported frame 'The student replied that he was...'.
Previously Asked
Report: The King: How will the new policy benefit college students? Minister 2: The policy will provide for an interdisciplinary education that has flexible study plans.
Interesting Facts
When the reporting verb is in the past, present forms shift back one step: 'am' → 'was', and past continuous 'was feeling' → past perfect continuous 'had been feeling'.
CBSE reported-speech items usually pair a question with a reply so that students demonstrate both interrogative and assertive transformations in a single 2-mark task.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Should I write 'was not feeling' or 'had not been feeling'?
The fully correct back-shifted form is 'had not been feeling well', because the reporting verb 'replied' is in the past. Many examiners also accept the un-shifted 'was not feeling well', but the past-perfect-continuous form is the safest for full marks.
How do I connect the apology and the reason in one blank?
Use 'and' (optionally repeating 'that'): 'he was sorry and (that) he had not been feeling well.' The link keeps the two reported ideas in a single grammatical sentence that flows from 'The student replied that he was...'.