A

Admin • 828.03K Points
Coach

Q. Change the speech:
My father once said to me, “If I can’t trust my people, then I don’t want to be doing this.”

  • (A) His father once told him that if he couldn’t trust his people then he didn’t want to be doing that.
  • (B) My father once told me that if he couldn’t trust his people then he didn‘t want to be doing that.
  • (C) My father once told me that if he couldn’t trust my people then he didn‘t want to be doing that.
  • (D) My father once told me that if he couldn’t trust his people then he didn’t want to be doing this.
Explanation by: Admin

Correct Answer: 👉 (B) My father once told me that if he couldn’t trust his people then he didn’t want to be doing that.

Explanation (step-by-step):

Original (Direct Speech):

My father once said to me, “If I can’t trust my people, then I don’t want to be doing this.”

When we change direct speech → indirect speech, we apply these rules:

“said to” → “told”
Because a person is being addressed (me), we use told me.

Pronoun change:

  • I → he (because the speaker is my father)
  • my people → his people (belongs to father, not to “me”)
  • me remains me (listener is still the narrator)

Tense change (backshift):

  • can’t → couldn’t
  • don’t want → didn’t want

Near word change:

  • this → that (in reported speech, “this” usually becomes “that”)

So the correct indirect sentence becomes:
My father once told me that if he couldn’t trust his people then he didn’t want to be doing that.

Therefore, option (B) is correct.

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