Question

Change the direct into indirect narration:
Rashi said, "My mother is my best friend."

• A. Rashi said that my mother is my best friend.
• B. Rashi said that my mother was my best friend.
• C. Rashi said that her mother was her best friend.
• D. Rashi thinks her mother to be best.

Answer 1

Answer: (C)

Rashi said that her mother was her best friend.

The first rule for changing direct into indirect speech is: When the reporting or principal verb is in past tense, all the present tense verbs in the direct speech (given in quotes) are changed to the corresponding past tense.

In the given sentence, the principal verb, 'said' is in simple past tense. Hence, the verbs inside the quotes are changed from simple present tense into simple past tense. Hence, the verb, 'is' in direct speech is changed to 'was' in indirect speech.

The second rule is: The pronouns in the direct speech (inside quotes) are changed so that it represents the relation with the reporter and not the speaker. So, the words, 'my mother' and 'my best friend' are changed to 'her mother' and 'her best friend' in indirect speech ('her' is used as Rashi is a the name of a feminine noun). The indirect narration of the given sentence is: 'Rashi said that her mother was her best friend'. Hence, option C is correct.

Option A: The verb 'is' is not changed to past tense. The pronoun 'my' in 'my mother' and 'my best friend' are not converted to 'her'. Hence, this is incorrect.

Option B is incorrect as the pronoun 'my' in 'my mother' and 'my best friend' are not converted to 'her'.

Option D: The reporting or principle verb 'said' has been changed to 'thinks'. The two verbs carry different meanings and cannot be substituted, one for another. Hence, this option is incorrect.