Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence.
"Would you like to take this apartment on rent from tomorrow?" he said to me.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer is Option (3) → He asked me if I would like to take that apartment on rent from the next day.
Changing a polite question into indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to me | asked me | He is asking something. So "said to" changes to "asked". |
| Joining word | " " (quotation marks) | if | The answer can only be yes or no. So "if" joins the question. |
| Pronoun change | Would you like | I would like | The question was put to me, so "you" becomes "I". "I" also comes before "would", as in a plain sentence. |
| Time and place words | this, tomorrow | that, the next day | The report is made later. So "this" becomes "that", and "tomorrow" becomes "the next day". |
| Full sentence | "Would you like to take this apartment on rent from tomorrow?" he said to me. | He asked me if I would like to take that apartment on rent from the next day. |
Would, could, should and might are already past forms, so they do not change. Example: Anil said, "I might come late." → Anil said that he might come late.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: He told me if I would like to take that apartment on rent from the next day. — Incorrect. "Told" reports a statement. A question needs "asked".
Option 2: He asked me if I will like to take that apartment on rent from the next day. — Incorrect. "Would" stays "would". Changing it to "will" brings in a present form after a past verb.
Option 4: He asked me if I would like to take that apartment on rent from tomorrow. — Incorrect. The time word "tomorrow" is kept. It should be "the next day".