Select the option that expresses the given sentence in direct speech.
She said she was seeing her brother the following day.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4, i.e.:“She said, ‘I am seeing my brother tomorrow.’”
When converting the indirect speech:
- She said she was seeing her brother the following day.
back into direct speech:
- Change “was seeing” (past continuous) back to present continuous, i.e. “am seeing”.
- Convert “the following day” to “tomorrow.”
- Add proper quotation marks for the exact words spoken.
- Maintain the reporting verb “said” in the past tense.
According to usage examples:
The correct direct speech of the given sentence is “She said, ‘I am seeing my brother tomorrow.’”
The other options are incorrect because:
- Option 1 improperly keeps past tense.
- Option 2 changes sense with “should.”
- Option 3 shifts to present tense for the reporting verb, which is wrong when the original uses past tense.