Choose the suitable sentence that expresses the following sentence in Direct Speech.
She says that she is at home.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → She says, "I am at home".
Indirect to direct speech:
| Change | Indirect | Direct | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | says that | says, “ ” | “Says” stays. That is removed and the spoken words go inside inverted commas. |
| Pronoun change | she | I | The speaker speaks of herself, so she becomes I. |
| Tense kept | is | am | No tense change, because the reporting verb “says” is in the present, so the tense of the spoken words does not change. With “I”, “is” becomes am. |
| Full sentence | She says that she is at home. | She says, “I am at home”. |
Example: He says that he is tired. → He says, “I am tired.”
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: She says, "She is at home". — Incorrect. Inside the inverted commas the speaker cannot call herself "she". It must be "I".
Option 3: She says, "She was at home". — Incorrect. The pronoun is wrong and the tense is changed to the past, which a present reporting verb does not allow.
Option 4: She says, "I was at home". — Incorrect. The pronoun is right, but "was" changes the time. She is at home now.