What is the correct direct speech form of the sentence: He claimed that he could speak French fluently.
Correct answer: A. He claimed, "I can speak French fluently."
- A. He claimed, "I can speak French fluently."
- B. He claimed, "I am speaking French fluently."
- C. He claimed, "I speak French fluently."
- D. He claimed, "I was speaking French fluently."
Explanation
In converting indirect speech back to direct, could returns to can and he returns to I, giving: He claimed, 'I can speak French fluently.' The other options change the verb to a progressive or past tense, which was not in the original statement.
This question appeared on the UHS MDCAT 2026 paper, which you can sit online with every answer explained.
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About Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct speech gives a speaker’s exact words, whereas indirect speech reports the meaning without quotation marks. Questions cover reporting verbs, pronoun changes, tense backshift, time and place expressions, punctuation, and the transformation of questions, commands and requests, including cases where backshift is not required.
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