Choose the correct indirect speech of the given sentence: He said to me, "How…
2022
Choose the correct indirect speech of the given sentence:
He said to me, "How is your mother?"
- A.
He asked me how my mother is.
- B.
He said to me how your mother was.
- C.
He asked me how my mother was.
- D.
He asked me how was my mother.
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Correct answer: C
The correct indirect speech for "He said to me, 'How is your mother?'" is "He asked me how my mother was."
Understanding Rules for Converting Questions to Indirect Speech
When converting a direct question into indirect speech, you must apply three major grammatical adjustments:
Reporting Verb: Since the direct speech is a question, change the reporting verb from "said to" to "asked."
Tense and Pronoun Shift: Because the reporting verb is in the past ("asked"), the tense of the verb inside the question must "backshift" into the past. Thus, "is" becomes "was." Additionally, change the second-person possessive pronoun "your" to "my."
Word Order: In indirect questions, the sentence must follow a statement structure (Subject + Verb) rather than a question structure (Verb + Subject). Therefore, "how is your mother" becomes "how my mother was."