Confusin while converting direct imperatives to indirect.?

It is a good question. IMPERATIVES are commands: Go to the store. Buy the milk. Bring it home.

When you are studying direct and indirect communication, you are moving from using quotes to NOT using quotes. Direct: She said, "Go to the store." My mother commanded, "Buy the milk." My sister added, "Bring it straight home." ("You" is always the understood subject: (You) go to the store. (You) buy the milk. EVERY sentence needs a subject.

Indirect communication REMOVES the quotes, or the directness, of the commands. No one is DIRECTLY talking to anyone any more--you are just describing one person telling another something:

She told me to go to the store. My mother commanded me to buy some milk. My sister told me to bring it straight home.

Notice you are adding a word (me) when you use the indirect forms. "Me" becomes the direct object in the indirect forms. In the direct quotes, the entire statement within quotes is the direct object--a noun clause.

ALSO, not ALL quotations are imperatives. If there is no COMMAND, it is NOT imperative:

She said, "We will be late." (DIRECT but NOT imperative because there is no command)

She said that I will be late. (INDIRECT but NOT imperative)

The TENSE change that is confusing you is harder to answer.

# 3

If the direct is in the present tense, there is no change. See your example

# 4

The indirect quote changes the tense to the conditional ("would be") if the verb in the direct is

already in the FUTURE tense:

She said, "Hurry or we WILL BE late." (direct/future tense)

She told us to hurry or we would be late. (indirect/future conditional)

#8 The tense in the direct quote is PAST tense: Nick said, “Please don’t ask how the meeting went.”

You could get away with keeping the indirect in the PAST: Nick told me not to ask how the meeting went.

Your indirect statement has changes the verb to the PAST PERFECT. "Went" becomes "had gone."

You are using complex sentences with subordinate noun clauses, The verbs in the the MAIN clause (Nick SAID; Nick TOLD me) don't change.

But here is your shortcut answer: If, when changing from direct to indirect forms, you have a subordinate (second) clause, the present tense remains the PRESENT in that clause, the future (WILL) changes to the future conditional (WOULD), and the past tense (WENT) changes to the past perfect tense (HAD GONE).

Most native English speakers know this from hearing it often but do not know the rule that applies. It is very advanced.