Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.

The teacher said, “Man is mortal.”

The teacher said that man is mortal.

The correct option is:

The teacher said that man is mortal.

The other options are incorrect because they do not follow these rules:

• The teacher said that man was mortal. - This sentence changes the present tense to the past tense, which is incorrect for universal truths.
• The teacher instructed that man was mortal. - This sentence changes the reporting verb to "instructed," which is incorrect because the teacher is simply making a statement, not giving an instruction.
• The teacher said that men were mortal. - This sentence changes the subject from "man" to "men," which is incorrect because the statement is about all people, not just men.