Final answer:
Reported speech is the rephrasing of direct speech into one's own words without changing the original speaker's meaning, often by using conjunctions and shift in pronouns and verb tenses.
Reported speech for Tola's statement in direct speech would be: 'Tola said that she could not do it at that time.' It involves changing verb tenses and pronouns.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student has asked for the reported speech version of a sentence narrated in direct speech by Tola: "I cannot do it now". Reported speech is a way to convey what someone said without using their exact words, typically by changing the pronouns, verb tenses, and other words as necessary to fit the context of the reporting verb.
Given Tola's statement, the reported speech would be: Tola said that she could not do it at that time. Notably, the direct speech is changed to past tense in reported speech, and pronouns are also adjusted for the correct point of view.