Choose the correct transformation of the given sentence in Indirect Speech:
Ritika said to her father, “How far are we from Shimla now?”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → Ritika asked her father how far they were from Shimla then.
Changing a question into indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to her father | asked her father | Ritika puts a question. So “said to” becomes “asked”. |
| Joining word | “ ” (quotation marks) | how far | The question word “how far” itself joins the reported question. No “that” or “if” is added. |
| Word order | are we | they were | The question order “are we” changes to the plain order. The subject “they” comes before the verb “were”, and the question mark goes. |
| Pronoun change | we | they | “We” means Ritika and her father, so it becomes “they”. |
| Tense change | are | were | “Are” is in the simple present. The verb “be” in the simple present is am / is / are. After the past “said” it becomes the simple past “were”. The verb “be” in the simple past is was / were. |
| Time word | now | then | The words are reported later. So “now” becomes “then”. |
| Full sentence | Ritika said to her father, “How far are we from Shimla now?” | Ritika asked her father how far they were from Shimla then. |
A question with “is” and a pronoun changes in the same way. Example: Dev said to me, “Where is she?” → Dev asked me where she was.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: Ritika asked her father how far were they from Shimla then. — Incorrect. “Were they” keeps the question word order. In a reported question the subject comes first: “they were”.
Option 3: Ritika asked her father how far they are from Shimla then. — Incorrect. The present “are” is kept. After the past “said” it must become “were”.
Option 4: Ritika asked her father how far they were from Shimla now. — Incorrect. “Now” is left unchanged. In the report it becomes “then”.