Select the option that correctly expresses the following sentence in direct speech.
She told me that she had already finished the project.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: C
Explanation
The correct answer is option 3 i.e. She said to me, “I have already finished the project.”
The given sentence is in indirect speech:
'She told me that she had already finished the project.'
To convert it to direct speech, follow these steps:
The indirect sentence uses past perfect ('had already finished').
In direct speech, past perfect often comes from present perfect ('have/has already finished') depending on the time of reporting.
The pronoun 'she' changes to 'I' since she is referring to herself while speaking directly.
The reporting verb 'told me' becomes 'said to me' in direct speech.
Let’s check the options:
“She will have finished...” – Incorrect tense (future perfect).
“I already finished...” – Incorrect tense (simple past), and wrong reporting structure.
“I have already finished...” – Correct present perfect tense and accurate pronoun usage.
“He had already finished...” – Wrong pronoun and not matching the speaker’s identity.