Convert the following sentence to indirect speech:

She said to me, “John would arrive before David.”

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She said to me that John will arrive before David.

She told me that John would arrive before David.

She told me that John will be arriving before David.

John said that John will arrive before David.

answer is B.

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Detailed Solution

Concept: We can see that the given sentence includes a modal verb. A modal verb is to specific functions like permission, obligation, advice, etc. Some samples of modal verbs are: can, could, may, might, etc.
When we convert a right away speech having a modal verb into an indirect speech, we've to follow some rules. as an example, may transform might, can turn into clouds, etc. However, certain modal verbs don't change. Some samples of such modal verbs which don't change when being converted from direct to indirect speech are would, could, might, etc.
We can see that within the given sentence, the modal verb ‘would’ is used. After we convert the given sentence into indirect speech, the verb within the indirect speech will remain unchanged. Thus, the indirect speech is, ‘She told me that John would arrive before David’. Therefore, the right answer is option 2.
Option 1 is wrong because the tense of the sentence changes to the future with the usage of ‘will’. If the direct speech has ‘will’, it changes into ‘would’. But if the direct speech has ‘would’, it doesn't turn out to be ‘will’.
Option 3 is wrong because the indirect speech is within the future progressive tense. ‘Will be arriving’ is a future tense. When cannot convert the given sentence into a sentence which is within the future continuous tense.
Option 4 is wrong because once we are reporting what something somebody else had said, we'd like to incorporate who told it. John failed to tell me that he will arrive before David. John told some girl which girl told it to me. Also, the tense of the sentence is modified into the long run tense.
Hence, the correct answer is option 2.

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