Question

Change into reporting speech:

My lawyer said, "Don't say anything to the police".

• A. My lawyer said don't say anything to the police.
• B. My lawyer said to me to not say anything to the police.
• C. My lawyer advised me don't say anything to the police.
• D. My lawyer advised me not to say anything to the police.

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

My lawyer advised me not to say anything to the police.

The given sentence is an advice.

In an imperative sentence, the verb of the reported speech takes 'to' i.e. to go, to do, etc. In the negative sentence the infinitive (to+ verb) is preceded by 'not'.

Infinitive always takes the basic form of the verb preceded by to. So, 'don't say' will change into 'not to say'.

In an imperative sentence the reporting verb is changed into request, beg, order, advise, instruct, forbid.

Thus, in indirect speech, the sentence must be,

My lawyer advised me not to say anything to the police.

Thus option D is the correct answer.

Options A,B,C are incorrect as they do not follow the rules of Narration and Reporting.