Which of the following sentences is correct Indirect Speech of the following sentence?
She said to me, "Where are you going to deposit this amount?"
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 3
The correct answer as per the official NTA Answer Key is Option (3) → She asked me where was I going to deposit that amount.
Note: The given answer is as per the official NTA Answer Key. However, none of the options is fully correct. The correct indirect speech is "She asked me where I was going to deposit that amount." NTA's option is the closest: it is the only one that makes all the changes of reporting verb, tense, pronoun and "this" → "that", but it keeps the question word order "was I" instead of the statement order "I was".
| Direct | Indirect |
|---|---|
| She said to me, "Where are you going to deposit this amount?" | She asked me where I was going to deposit that amount. |
Wh-question in indirect speech:
- Reporting verb: "said to" becomes asked, and the question word where joins the two parts.
- Word order: the reported question becomes a statement, subject before verb ("I was going", not "was I going"), and the question mark is dropped.
- Tense change: the reporting verb is in the past, so the present continuous "are going" moves back to the past continuous was going.
- Pronoun changes: "you" (the listener, "me") → I.
- Words of nearness: "this" → that.
Example: He said to me, "Where are you going?" → He asked me where I was going.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: She asked me where to deposit that amount. — Incorrect. "where to deposit" turns her question into a request for advice and drops "I was going"; the meaning changes.
Option 2: She asked me where am I going to deposit that amount. — Incorrect.
- The tense is not moved back: "am" should be "was".
- It keeps the question word order "am I".
Option 4: She asked me where would I deposit that amount. — Incorrect.
- "would deposit" changes "are going to deposit" into a different verb form.
- It keeps the question word order "would I".
Contrast: a reported wh-question takes statement order, subject before verb ("where I was going"), never question order ("where was I going").