Direct - reported speech

[dorax]

I found the following in an online multiple-choice exercise:
"My mother is taking the bus to work tomorrow."
He told me that his mother ________ the bus to work tomorrow.
1. is taking
2. was taking
3. will take

The correct answer given is 'was taking'. Shouldn’t the time expression 'tomorrow' be changed? And if we don’t change it, shouldn’t the correct answer be 'is taking', keeping the tense as it is?

Besides, I want to clarify the following. We have the sentences: 'Could you bring the book tonight?' and 'Would you mind lending me a pencil?' What are the appropriate sentences in reported speech? 'She asked me if I could bring the book that night.' and 'She asked me if I would mind lending her a pencil.'? Or, 'She asked me to bring the book that night.' and 'She sked me to lend her a pencil.'?

 

[emsr2d2]

I found the following in an online multiple-choice exercise:
"My mother is taking the bus to work tomorrow."
He told me that his mother ________ the bus to work tomorrow.
1. is taking
2. was taking
3. will take

The correct answer given is 'was taking'. Shouldn’t the time expression 'tomorrow' be changed no question mark here and if we don’t change it, shouldn’t the correct answer be 'is taking', keeping the tense as it is?

I partly agree with you. The problem is that we don't know when the sentence is being said with regard to when "tomorrow" is. If the tomorrow in the main sentence is still tomorrow (ie the day hasn't happened yet), then I'd accept both "is taking" and "was taking" before "the bus to work tomorrow".
If, however, the day being referred to as "tomorrow" has now been and gone, I'd expect "... was taking the bus to work the next day".

Besides Also, I want to clarify the following. We have Take the following sentences:
1. 'Could you bring the book tonight?' and
2. 'Would you mind lending me a pencil?'

What are the appropriate sentences How do we convert them into reported speech?

a. 'She asked me if I could bring the book that night.' and
b. 'She asked me if I would mind lending her a pencil.'? Or,
c. 'She asked me to bring the book that night.' and
d. 'She asked me to lend her a pencil.' ?

Note my corrections above. If you want to retain the exact wording of the original request, only a and b work. c and d reflect the essence of the request but they're not direct to indirect speech.

The bottom section should really have been a separate thread. Although the whole thread is about reported speech, it would have made more sense to make this final paragraph a separate thread.

 

[jutfrank]

And if we don’t change it, shouldn’t the correct answer be 'is taking', keeping the tense as it is?

No, but if tomorrow is still future time at the time of speaking, then it's probably a good idea to do so.

Besides, I want to clarify the following. We have the sentences: 'Could you bring the book tonight?' and 'Would you mind lending me a pencil?' What are the appropriate sentences in reported speech?

The time phrase you use depends entirely on the relative time of the report.

'She asked me if I could bring the book that night.'

Using 'that night' sounds to me like you're telling a story years later. A bit odd, out of context at least.

and 'She asked me if I would mind lending her a pencil.'?

Fine.

Or, 'She asked me to bring the book that night.'

This is practically the same as your previous sentence but a bit shorter and to the point.

and 'She sked me to lend her a pencil.'?

Good, but it misses the idea of minding, which may or may not be an issue, depending on how important to you the idea of minding is when you report.