In the following questions, choose the option which correctly changes the given sentence from Direct Speech into Indirect Speech.

He said to me, 'I don't believe you at all."

The correct answer is '4' i.e. He told me that he did not believe me at all .

Key Points

• When converting Direct Speech to Indirect Speech, the reporting verb and the tense of the reported speech must be modified appropriately.
• In this case, the reporting verb ‘said to’ is changed to ‘told’, which is the correct verb to use when the sentence is directed at someone.
• The sentence in direct speech, ‘I don’t believe you at all,’ is in the Present Simple tense.
• In Indirect Speech, the Present Simple tense changes to the Past Simple tense, so ‘don’t believe’ becomes ‘did not believe’.
• The pronouns are also adjusted: ‘I’ becomes ‘he’ (referring to the speaker), and ‘you’ becomes ‘me’ (referring to the person being addressed).

Correct sentence: He told me that he did not believe me at all.

Additional Information

• Rules for changing Direct Speech to Indirect Speech:
  • Present tense in Direct Speech changes to Past tense in Indirect Speech.
  • Words indicating nearness (e.g., this, now) change to words indicating distance (e.g., that, then).
  • Pronouns are changed based on the context of the sentence.
• Common reporting verbs: said, told, asked, explained, replied, etc.