Question

Yesterday you met a friend of yours, Charlie. Here is something which Charlie told you.
Later that day you tell another friend what Charlie said. Use reported speech.
Charlie: I am living in London now.
A) Charlie said that I am living in London now.
B) Charlie said that he is living in London now.
C) Charlie said that he was living in London then.
D) Charlie said that I am living in London then.

Answer 1

Hint: Reported speech is how we represent other people's speech or what we say ourselves. Direct speech and indirect speech are the two basic categories of reported speech. Direct speech repeats the words exactly as they were spoken, or as we recall them:
Barbara said, ‘I didn’t realise it was raining.’
The words of the original speaker are transformed into indirect speech.
Barbara said she didn’t realise it was raining.

Complete answer:
The provided sentence is in the present continuous tense. While changing the direct speech to reported speech the present continuous tense is changed to past continuous tense.

Let us consider the given options:
Option A) Charlie said that I am living in London now: This option is incorrect as the terms that represent proximity in time or space are frequently converted into words that express distance. ‘Now’ used indirect speech is changed to ‘then’ in the reported speech. As the tense of the direct speech has not been changed when converted into indirect speech, this option is incorrect.

Option B) Charlie said that he is living in London now: The tense of this option is incorrect as the present continuous tense has to be changed to past continuous tense. Therefore, the option is incorrect.

Option C) Charlie said that he was living in London then: As per the rules of transformation of sentences, between the reporting and the reported speeches, we insert "that." The tense has been changed to past continuous, and ‘now’ used in the direct speech has been changed to ‘then’. Thus, this option is correct.

Option D) Charlie said that I am living in London then: As the present continuous tense has not been changed in the reported speech, this option is inappropriate.

Thus the correct answer is option ‘C’.

Note: Rules of reported speech are as follows:
- If the reporting verb is in the present tense, the direct speech sentence requires relatively little modification.
- If what was said is no longer relevant or was said in the past, it may be essential to convert the reporting verb to the past tense. The following are the modifications that would be required.
- Indirect Speech frequently requires time and location references to shift.