A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech.
She said, "I was very tired yesterday."
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
Given Direct Speech:
She said, “I was very tired yesterday.”
Step 1: Apply rules of Indirect Speech
Rule 1: Pronoun change
“I” → “she”
Rule 2: Tense change
Past Simple (“was”) → Past Perfect (“had been”)
(When reporting verb is in past: said)
Rule 3: Change of time expression
yesterday → the day before
Correct Indirect Speech:
She said she had been very tired the day before.
Option Analysis:
She said she was very tired yesterday. — No tense or time change.
She said she had been very tired yesterday. — Time expression not changed.
She said she is very tired the day before. — Incorrect tense shift.
She said she had been very tired the day before. — Correct in all aspects.
Hence, the correct answer is:
She said she had been very tired the day before.