Choose the one that correctly represents the sentence in direct speech.
Adit explained that he hadn't had the time to prepare his speech the day before.

Correct option is A

The correct indirect/ direct speech is (a).
Explanation: In converting from indirect to direct speech, we reverse backshift and restore deictic words: past perfect (“hadn’t had”) → simple past (“didn’t have”); “the day before” → “yesterday”; and third person (“he”) → first person (“I”) because the original speaker is Adit. Option (a) satisfies all three conversions and uses standard direct-speech punctuation with a reporting verb (said is acceptable for explained in direct speech rendering).
Rules of conversion (Indirect → Direct):
· Tense reversal: Past perfect ↔ Simple past (had not had → did not have).
· Change of pronouns: According to the speaker and listener (he → I).
· Time/place words: Indirect the day before → Direct yesterday; the next day → tomorrow, etc.
· Word order & punctuation: Use quoted sentence with standard capitalization and comma before opening quotes.
· Why others are incorrect:
· (b) Keeps the day before—a reporter’s time marker not used by the original speaker in direct speech.
· (c) Retains past perfect with yesterday—mismatch; the natural direct form is simple past.
· (d) Uses present perfect with the day before—tense and deictic expression clash.
· Example:
· Indirect: He said that he hadn’t finished the assignment the day before. → Direct: He said, “I didn’t finish the assignment yesterday.”