If the reported speech expresses some universal truth, habit, historical incident or permanent fact, its tense does not change even when the reporting verb is in the past tense.

To covert Indirect Speech to Direct Speech: Use the reporting verb, "say" or "said to" in its correct tense. Remove the conjuctions "that, to, if or whether etc". wherever necessary. Insert quotation marks, question mark, exclamation and fullstop, wherever necessary.

Related Test: Professional Communication Skills Practice Test: Grammar - Converting Direct Speech to Indirect