Question

Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence.
He said to me, "What are you doing?"
1. He asked me what I was doing.
2. He asked me that what was I doing.
3. He said that what I was doing
4. He said what I had been doing.

Answer 1

Correct Answer - Option 1 : He asked me what I was doing.

The correct answer is option 1 i.e. He asked me what I was doing.

• We make changes in tenses of reported speech only when the reporting verb is in the past tense.
• When the reported speech is an interrogative sentence we follow these steps-
  • Reporting verb 'said' is changed into 'asked'.
  • Change the sentence, given in the reported speech, from interrogative to assertive.
  • Tense of reported speech is changed accordingly. ( in above sentence- 'are' changes into 'was')
  •  personal Pronouns of reported speech are changed as per subject and object of reporting verb. Here, the second person- 'You' will change into 'I' as per object - 'me' (hidden).
• By following these steps we get the final sentence - " He asked me what I was doing."

Thus, the correct answer is option 1.