Choose the option that correctly changes the narration of the following sentence:
Rahul said to his teacher,” Madam, what is the way to solve the question?”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Rahul asked his teacher what the way to solve the question was.
Wh-question in indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to | asked | The direct speech is a question, so “said to” changes to asked. “Asked” takes the person directly as its object: asked his teacher, not “asked to his teacher”. |
| Joining word | “ ” (quotation marks), Madam, what | what | The question word “what” itself joins the two clauses. The inverted commas, the address “Madam” and the question mark are dropped. |
| Word order | what is the way | what the way ... was | The question becomes a statement, with the subject before the verb: what the way to solve the question was, not “what was the way”. |
| Tense change | is | was | The reporting verb is in the past, so “is” changes to was. |
| Full sentence | Rahul said to his teacher, “Madam, what is the way to solve the question?” | Rahul asked his teacher what the way to solve the question was. |
"His teacher" and "the question" stay as they are.
Example: She said to me, “Where do you live?” → She asked me where I lived.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Rahul told his teacher what was the way to solve the question. — Incorrect.
- "Told" reports a statement. A question is reported with "asked".
- It keeps the question order "what was the way" instead of the statement order "what the way ... was".
Option 3: Rahul asked to his teacher what the way was to solve the question. — Incorrect. "Asked" takes the person directly as its object. "Asked to his teacher" is ungrammatical.
Option 4: Rahul told his teacher what the way was to solve the question. — Incorrect. The word order is right, but "told" cannot report a question. The reporting verb must be "asked".