Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option.
Tom: “Don’t forget to bring my book, Ann”.
Tom asked Ann ________________________
A) That she didn’t forget to bring his book
B) That she doesn’t bring his book
C) Not to forget to bring his book
D) Not to forget to bring her book
E) That she didn’t forget to bring the book

Answer 1

Hint: This question is from the topic of Direct and Indirect speech. In this question, we have to convert a sentence that is directly spoken by someone into an indirect form.

Complete answer:
In the direct speech, we use the exact words of the speaker. In other words, when we literally echo what someone says while putting the word between speech marks, we use direct speech:
For example 1:
Tom came in and said, “I’m really hungry.”
The MLA said, “We plan to make this city a safer place for everyone.”

When we try to recreate a scenario by telling the words of the speaker in our own way, it is known as indirect speech. When we convert a sentence from direct to indirect speech, we have to keep in mind the tense that we are dealing with. If the direct speech is in the past tense, then indirect speech also has to be in the past tense.
For example 2:
- Tom said that he was really hungry. (Here we maintain the past tense of the direct speech from example 1)
- The MLA said that they plan to make this city a safer place for everyone. (Here we maintain the present tense of the direct speech from example 1)

The question is given in the form of a dialogue - TOM: Don’t forget to bring my book, Ann.
When we write it in the direct speech we write it as Tom said, “Don’t forget to bring my book, Ann.
”Similarly, when we write in indirect speech we write it as Tom asked Ann not to forget to bring his book.

We know that the direct speech is in the future tense, as Tom is asking Ann to bring his book in future. Therefore, options (A), (B) and (E) are incorrect because option (A) and (E) use the word didn’t which makes it a sentence of past tense. Option (B) uses the word doesn’t which makes it a sentence in the present tense. Option (D) is incorrect because the speaker is talking about Tom’s book who is a boy, but the pronoun in this question is her. Option (C) uses the correct tense and the correct pronoun his.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (C) i.e, Not to forget to bring his book.

Note:
- Since it uses the speaker's exact words, direct expression is also known as a quoted speech.
- Indirect speech, on the other hand, is referred to as recorded or reported speech because it narrates what the speaker has said.
- For converting direct to indirect speech we always use the third person pronoun, i.e. he, she, they, them etc.