Question

You will see several statements of different people about nature. Read the sentence and choose the correct option.
Ian said “There was an octopus near the reef”.
He said there had been an octopus near the reef.
He said there has been an octopus near the reef.
He said there were an octopus near the reef​

Answer 1

Ответ:

He said there had been an octopus near the reef.

Это косвенная речь. По правилам время past simple меняется на past perfect