Question

Change the following statement into indirect speech.
He said to me, “I cannot help you at present because I am myself in difficulty.”
a)He said that I cannot help you at present because I am myself in difficulty.
b)He told he could not help me at present because he was himself in difficulty.
c)He told that he could not help me at present because he was himself in difficulty.
d)He asked that he could not help you at present because he was himself in difficulty.

Answer 1

Hint: This sentence is indirect speech. The exact words of the speaker have been quoted here. Indirect speech is the interpretation of an event or situation by a person, in his own words.

Complete answer:

To change the given sentence into indirect speech, commas are replaced with that, too, if, etc. Inverted commas are removed, and the reported verb ‘said’ is replaced by told, ordered, replied, commanded, etc. The first-person pronouns are converted into third-person pronouns.
Option a “He said that I cannot help you at present because I am myself in difficulty.” Is incorrect as said has not been replaced by told and the first-person pronoun ‘I’ has not been replaced by third person pronoun ‘he’. Thus, option ‘a’ is incorrect.
Option b “He told he could not help me at present because he was himself in difficulty.” Is incorrect as the comma in direct speech after ‘me’ has not been replaced by that.
Option c “He told me that he could not help me at present because he was himself in difficulty.” Is the correct answer as all the rules have been followed. The conjunction ‘that’ has been used and the first-person pronouns have been changed to thirst person pronouns.
Option d “He asked that he could not help you at present because he was himself in difficulty.” Is incorrect in many ways. The speaker did not ask a question, ‘asked’ has been used in indirect speech. The first-person pronouns have not been changed. Thus, option ‘d’ is incorrect.

Note: While changing a sentence from direct to indirect space, changes are made in the sentence but the core meaning of the sentence must remain the same. For e.g. option d says “he asked me..” but the speaker has not asked any question. Thus, this would be wrong to use.