Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
The old lady said she wasn’t feeling well. The old lady said, “ __________ ’’
(a)I’m not feeling well
(b)She isn’t feeling well
(c)I don’t feel well
(d)She hasn’t been feeling well

Answer 1

Hint: In indirect speech, the present tense changes to past tense, along with other necessary changes. So, in direct speech the changes made will be reversed. It will be repeated exactly as the subject said it.

Complete answer:In grammar, there are two kinds of speech - Direct and
Indirect.In direct speech, we use quotes to repeat the exact thing an individual said. However, in indirect speech, the direct quote is said in third person, and so the quotation marks are removed. In order to change the indirect speech into direct speech, we must change the tense of the sentence, and make the necessary punctuation changes.
When we want to report something someone said without speech marks, we use indirect
speech. It is also called reported speech.
When you convert a sentence from direct to indirect speech, the tense changes. So, to
change the speech here, we must change it back.
From direct to indirect, the tense changes from present to past. So, we should convert the
past tense of the sentence said by the old lady to the present.

So, the phrase ‘that she wasn’t feeling well’ will be changed to ‘I’m not feeling well’.
Now, for the other changes, let us look at the given options:
(a)I’m not feeling well - This phrase is in the present continuous tense, and it contains the correct subject. This fits perfectly into the given sentence. This is the required answer. So, this is the correct option.
(b)She isn’t feeling well - This phrase is also in the present continuous tense, but it does not have the correct subject. This does not fit perfectly into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(c)I don’t feel well - This phrase is not in the present continuous tense, even though it has the correct subject. This does not fit perfectly into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.
(d)She hasn’t been feeling well - This phrase is not in the present continuous tense and it does not have the correct subject. This does not fit perfectly into the given sentence. This is not the required answer. So, this is an incorrect option.

Note:Break the sentence into separate parts and try to convert each part into direct
speech. Changing individual parts will make sure that you do not miss a part of the
sentence.