: I don't understand this synthesis and transformation question "I'm writing a letter to Kelly now", Mary told her mother. Mary told her mother that she was writing a letter to Kelly. Now I don't know what to replace the "now"

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I might rephrase that quote one of these ways:

Mary told her mother she was in process of writing a letter to Kelly.

Mary told her mother she was currently writing a letter to Kelly.

Mary told her mother she was writing a letter to Kelly at the moment.

As noted in comments, "now" in the original could also be taken to mean "as a consequence (of factors not included)"; that would lead to phrasing like these:

Mary told her mother that had prompted her to write a letter to Kelly.

Mary told her mother she needed to write a letter to Kelly.

Mary told her mother Kelly deserved a letter for this situation.