Select the most suitable option to convert the following sentence into the Indirect Speech.
The client said to the artist, "Will you be able to complete the Painting by tomorrow morning".
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → The client asked the artist if she would be able to complete the painting by the next morning.
Yes/no question in indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to | asked ... if | “Said to” becomes “asked”, and the question is joined with “if” or “whether”. |
| Word order | Will you be able | she would be able | The question becomes a statement: subject before verb, “she would”, and the question mark goes. |
| Pronoun change | you | she | “You” (the artist) becomes “she”. |
| Tense change | will | would | The reporting verb is in the past, so “will” moves back to “would”. |
| Words of nearness | tomorrow morning | the next morning | “Tomorrow morning” becomes “the next morning”. |
| Full sentence | The client said to the artist, “Will you be able to complete the Painting by tomorrow morning”. | The client asked the artist if she would be able to complete the painting by the next morning. |
Example: He said to me, “Will you come tomorrow?” → He asked me if I would come the next day.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: The client asked the artist whether the painting would be completed by the next day morning. — Incorrect.
- It turns the question into the passive and drops "be able to", so it asks about the work being done, not about the artist's ability.
- "the next day morning" is not natural English.
Option 3: The client asked the artist that she will be able to complete the painting by the next morning. — Incorrect. A reported question is joined with if/whether, not "that", and "will" is not changed to would.
Option 4: The client asked the artist can she be able to complete the painting by the next morning. — Incorrect.
- It keeps the question word order ("can she") and has no if/whether.
- "Can" and "be able to" both express ability, so "can ... be able to" is wrong.
Note: In the original NTA paper, Option 4 read "The client asked the artist whether she will be able to complete the painting by the next morning". NTA accepted this option as a correct answer as well. To leave only one correct answer and avoid confusion for students, it has been changed here to "The client asked the artist can she be able to complete the painting by the next morning".
Advice for the exam: In the real exam, mark the answer that is grammatically or factually correct. If NTA’s provisional answer key marks a different option, challenge it during the answer-key challenge window and give the reason in one or two lines.