Select the option that expresses the given sentence in direct speech.
My philosophy teacher told me that happiness is to be in the state of harmony.

Correct option is A

✔️ Correct option: (a) My philosophy teacher said to me, “Happiness is to be in the state of harmony.”
· Definition of Direct and Indirect Speech:
· Direct Speech: Quoting exact words spoken using quotation marks.
· Indirect Speech: Paraphrasing the speech without quotes and often changing tenses.
· Explanation:
· The reported speech "happiness is..." uses present tense, so direct speech must also retain this.
· The reporting verb is "told" (past), but since the statement is general truth, tense remains unchanged.
· Grammatical rule used:
· General truths or universal facts retain their present tense in both direct and indirect speech.
· Hindi Explanation: यदि reported speech में universal truth हो तो उसे indirect में भी बदलते समय present tense में रखा जाता है।
· Meanings of all the other options:
· (b) – ❌ Past perfect changes reporting structure; not matching.
· (c) – ❌ “says” is present; doesn’t match original “told”.
· (d) – ❌ “says” conflicts with past narration.