Change the following statement to direct speech :
He asked me what I wanted.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → He said to me, "What do you want?"
Indirect to direct speech (wh-question):
| Change | Indirect | Direct | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | asked | said to | “Asked” becomes “said to”, followed by a comma and inverted commas. |
| Tense change | wanted | want | The past “wanted” goes back to the present “want”. |
| Pronoun change | I | you | The speaker was talking to me, so “I” becomes “you”. |
| Word order | what I wanted | What do you want? | The words become a real question again, with “do” and a question mark. |
| Full sentence | He asked me what I wanted. | He said to me, “What do you want?” |
Example: She asked me where I lived. → She said to me, “Where do you live?”
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: He said to me, "What I want?" — Incorrect. "I" should be you, and the question lacks the helping verb do.
Option 3: He said to me, "What he wants?" — Incorrect. "He" changes the person asked about, and the question has statement word order without "does".
Option 4: He said to me, "What will you want?" — Incorrect. "Wanted" goes back to the simple present, not to the future "will want".