Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
The employee said, “I somehow managed to submit the project last night.”
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. The employee said that he had somehow managed to submit the project the previous night.
When converting direct speech into indirect speech, the following changes are important:
The pronoun "I" changes to "he" (since the employee is being talked about).
The tense shifts back: "managed" (simple past) changes to "had managed" (past perfect) because the reporting verb is in the past tense ("said").
Time expressions also change: "last night" becomes "the previous night."
Option 1 is incorrect because the pronoun "I" should be changed to "he."
Option 2 is incorrect because the tense "have managed" is present perfect, which is not correct here, and "last night" should be "the previous night."
Option 3 is close but keeps "last night" instead of changing it to "the previous night."