Choose the correct indirect speech form of the sentence: "The holy prophet said, \"God helps those who help others.\""

Introduction / Context:
Direct and indirect speech questions examine your ability to convert quoted speech into reported speech while maintaining correct verb forms and meaning. In this case, the original sentence contains a general moral statement or proverb: “God helps those who help others.” When reporting universal truths, many grammar rules state that we keep the present tense in the reported clause even if the reporting verb is in the past. This question asks you to apply that rule and choose the correct indirect speech form.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Direct speech: “The holy prophet said, \"God helps those who help others.\"”
• The reporting verb is said, which is in the simple past tense.
• The quoted clause expresses a general truth or moral principle.
• Options show different tense changes and slight wording variations.
• We must preserve the sense of a timeless truth rather than a past event.

Concept / Approach:
When converting direct speech to indirect speech, the usual rule is to shift the tense back (for example, present simple to past simple) if the reporting verb is in the past. However, when the reported words express a universal truth, scientific fact or general moral principle, we often keep the original present tense in indirect speech to show that the statement is still true. “God helps those who help others” is a general moral truth. Therefore, the correct indirect speech should use helps and help, not helped and helped. Also, the structure should remain close to the original meaning without unnecessary changes.

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Remove the quotation marks and introductory comma and introduce the reported clause with that: “The holy prophet said that …”Step 2: Recognise that the clause “God helps those who help others” is a general moral truth, so we keep the simple present helps and help.Step 3: Form the indirect sentence: “The holy prophet said that God helps those who help others.”Step 4: Compare this with the given options and note that option B matches exactly.Step 5: Check that no unnecessary tense changes or additions have been made that distort the original moral statement.Step 6: Confirm that option B is therefore the correct indirect speech form.

Verification / Alternative check:
Review grammar rules on reporting universal truths: examples include “The teacher said, \"The earth moves round the sun\"” becoming “The teacher said that the earth moves round the sun.” The verb moves remains in the present. Similarly, moral sayings like “Honesty is the best policy” and “God helps those who help themselves” retain their present tense in indirect speech. Options that change helps to helped treat the statement as a past event, which weakens the sense of a continuing truth. Option B respects both the grammar rule and the meaning, confirming it as correct.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:

• Option A changes helps to helped, incorrectly shifting a general truth into the past.
• Option C substitutes people for those, which slightly changes the wording; while similar in meaning, exams usually prefer a closer match to the original proverb.
• Option D adds those people, which is wordier and again not the exact standard form of the proverb.
• Option E shifts the tense to progressive (was helping, were helping), suggesting an ongoing past action rather than a timeless moral truth.

Common Pitfalls:
A common mistake is to blindly apply tense backshifting whenever the reporting verb is in the past, without considering whether the reported statement is a universal truth. Another pitfall is focusing only on meaning and accepting any option that seems roughly similar, even if it introduces tense changes that alter the nuance. To avoid these issues, always ask whether the original statement describes a permanent fact or moral rule. If it does, keep the present tense in indirect speech. This simple check will help you handle many direct-indirect speech questions accurately.

Final Answer:
The correct indirect speech form is The holy prophet said that God helps those who help others.