Correct Answer:
B. She said she had finished her work
When converting direct speech to indirect (reported) speech, several changes typically occur, including shifts in tense, pronouns, and time/place expressions. The original sentence, "I have finished my work," uses the present perfect tense ("have finished"). In reported speech, the present perfect usually shifts backward to the past perfect tense ("had finished").
- B: She said she had finished her work is correct because it accurately applies the tense shift from present perfect to past perfect and correctly changes the pronoun "I" to "she" and "my" to "her."
- A: She said she has finished her work is incorrect because it fails to shift the tense; "has finished" remains in the present perfect.
- C: She says she finished her work is incorrect for two reasons: the reporting verb "says" is in the present tense, but the original reporting verb was "said" (past), and "finished" is simple past, not the correct past perfect tense.
- D: She said she finished her work is incorrect because "finished" is simple past, not the past perfect tense required when the original direct speech was in the present perfect.