In the following question, a sentence has been given in Direct/ Indirect…

Concept: When direct speech is reported using a reporting verb in the simple past tense (said, told), the tense-sequence (backshift) rule requires the tense of the reported clause to move one step back: simple present becomes simple past, simple past becomes past perfect, present continuous becomes past continuous, and so on. Pronouns and possessive references also shift to match the reporting speaker's point of view.

Application:

1. The reporting verb "said to" is in the simple past, so the indirect speech uses the reporting clause "Chandler told Ross" (say to + person becomes tell + person) followed by the connector "that".

2. The direct-speech verb "lost" is in the simple past tense, so by the backshift rule it moves one step further back to the past perfect: "had lost".

3. The possessive pronoun "your" refers to Ross from Chandler's point of view in the original sentence, so it converts to "his" in the reported version.

4. Combining these changes gives: Chandler told Ross that Joey had lost his ring.

Cross-check: Contrasting each alternative against the rule confirms the choice:

• "Chandler told Ross that Joey lost his ring." keeps the simple past unshifted, so it fails the backshift rule required by the past-tense reporting verb.

• "Chandler told Ross that Joey has lost his ring." shifts to the present perfect, which is not the tense that a simple past verb backshifts to.

• "Chandler told Ross that Joey is losing his ring." changes the aspect to present continuous, altering the meaning from a completed action to an ongoing one, and does not follow the backshift rule either.

The version that correctly follows the backshift rule and the pronoun change is: "Chandler told Ross that Joey had lost his ring."