Choose the correct indirect form of the given sentence:
Nisha said to her brother, “Why did you not tell me about the result yesterday?”
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Nisha asked her brother why he had not told her about the result the day before.
Changing a “why” question into indirect speech:
| Change | Direct | Indirect | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Reporting verb | said to her brother | asked her brother | Nisha is asking a question, so “said to” becomes “asked”. |
| Joining word | “Why did you not tell ...?” | why he had not told | The question word “why” joins the two parts. The question becomes a plain statement. So the subject “he” comes before the verb, and the question mark goes. |
| Tense change | did not tell | had not told | The reporting verb “said” is in the past, so the simple past “did not tell” becomes the past perfect “had not told”. The simple past is formed with the past form of the verb (V2). The past perfect is formed with had + past participle (V3). |
| Pronoun change | you, me | he, her | Nisha is speaking to her brother, so “you” becomes “he”. The speaker is Nisha, so “me” becomes “her”. |
| Time word | yesterday | the day before | The words are reported later, so “yesterday” becomes “the day before”. |
| Full sentence | Nisha said to her brother, “Why did you not tell me about the result yesterday?” | Nisha asked her brother why he had not told her about the result the day before. |
Other question words such as what, where, when and how join the parts in the same way. A yes / no question uses “if” or “whether” instead. Example: Mother said to me, “Where have you kept the keys?” → Mother asked me where I had kept the keys.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 2: Nisha asked her brother why had he not told her about the result the day before. — Incorrect. It keeps the question order, “had he”. In indirect speech the subject comes first: “he had”.
Option 3: Nisha asked her brother why he had not told her about the result yesterday. — Incorrect. “Yesterday” is left unchanged. In indirect speech it becomes “the day before”.
Option 4: Nisha asked her brother why he had not told me about the result the day before. — Incorrect. “Me” is left unchanged. The speaker is Nisha, so it must become “her”.