Question

Convert the following statement in reported speech:
George said to you: I cannot help you in this matter.

• A. George said to me that I cannot help you.
  
• B. George told me that he cannot help me.
  
• C. George told me that he could not help me.
  
• D. George told me that he cannot help him.
  

Answer 1

The correct option is C George told me that he could not help me.

The given sentence is a statement.

In the indirect speech 'told' may be used for 'said to'.

According to the rules of narration and reporting, if the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported verb is changed into its corresponding past form. The reporting verb in the given sentence, 'said', is in the past form. Therefore, the reported verb, 'cannot' will change into 'could not'. The first person pronoun 'I' will change to third person 'he'. The second person is changed into the person of the speaker.

Thus, in indirect speech the sentence must be,

George told me that he could not help me.

Thus option C is the correct answer.

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