Change the following sentence into Direct Speech.
The speaker said that two wrongs do not make a right
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → The speaker said, "Two wrongs do not make a right"
Indirect to direct speech (universal truth):
The words are given word for word as spoken, beginning with a capital letter.
| Change | Indirect | Direct | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | The speaker said that | The speaker said, “ ” | “Said” stays. The conjunction “that” is removed, and a comma and inverted commas are put in its place. |
| Tense kept | do not make | do not make | The reported words are a proverb, a general truth, so their tense was not changed in indirect speech and stays “do not make” in direct speech too. |
| Full sentence | The speaker said that two wrongs do not make a right. | The speaker said, “Two wrongs do not make a right” |
Example: The teacher said that honesty is the best policy. → The teacher said, “Honesty is the best policy.”
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The speaker said, "Don't make two wrongs right" — Incorrect. It turns the statement into a command and changes its meaning.
Option 2: The speaker said, "What wrongs! did not make right" — Incorrect. It is ungrammatical, with an exclamation in the middle and the past tense "did not make", and the proverb is lost.
Option 4: The speaker said, "Two wrongs always make right" — Incorrect. It says the opposite of what the speaker said.