Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
'I am playing the keyboard,' she explained.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4, i.e. “She explained that she was playing the keyboard.”
The direct sentence is:
'I am playing the keyboard,' she explained.
– The reporting verb 'explained' is in the past tense. Therefore, following the rules of reported speech, the present continuous (“am playing”) should shift to the past continuous (“was playing”) in the indirect version.
Thus, the correct transformation is:
She explained that she was playing the keyboard.
Option 1 uses past perfect continuous (“had been playing”), which is incorrect for this context.
Options 2 and 3 keep the present tense (“is playing”), which does not follow the required tense shift in reported speech.