Choose the option that is the correct indirect form of the sentence.

I said, ‘I’m not very happy at work.’ 

The correct answer is 'Option 1'.

Key Points

• The correct option for converting the given direct speech into indirect (reported) speech is option 1: "I told her that I was not very happy at work."
• When we turn direct speech into indirect speech, we usually shift the tenses back. This is known as "backshift".
• In the given direct speech 'I’m not very happy at work', the verb 'am' is in the present tense.
• When converting this into indirect speech, we shift 'am' back to 'was', the past tense form of the verb 'be'.

Therefore, the correct sentence is: 'I told her that I was not very happy at work.'

Additional Information

• Option 2 is incorrect because 'would' suggests a future condition or a conditional mood, which isn't present in the original sentence.
• Option 3 is also incorrect because 'had been' is past perfect tense, suggesting an action that completed at some point in the past before something else happened. The original sentence doesn't convey this meaning.
• Option 4 maintains the present tense 'am', failing to perform the usual tense backshift in reported speech, so it's not the best choice.