Question

Change the following statement into indirect speech.
Ramesh said to him,” How do you do?”
A) Ramesh told him how did you do.
B) Ramesh asked him how he was.
C) Ramesh asked him how you were.
D) Ramesh asked him how I was.

Answer 1

Hint:Reported or indirect speech is usually used to talk about the past. So, we change the tense of the words spoken. For example: She said “I am coming” is direct speech and indirect speech is She said that she was coming.

Complete answer:
Here in this question, we have to convert the following statement into indirect speech. So, out of the options given we have to choose the best fit.
Option A) Ramesh told him how did you do – is an incorrect answer because in this case, the sentence is given in simple present tense and we have to change the tense i.e. into past tense. And the sentence ‘Ramesh told him how did you do’ is an incorrect indirect speech. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option B) Ramesh asked him how he was – is the correct answer because the given sentence is an interrogative question, and indirect speech is formed by using ‘ask’ + question words + clause. So, according to this rule this option is the correct answer.
Option C) Ramesh asked him how you were – is an incorrect answer because ‘Ramesh asked him how you were’ is grammatically incorrect. So, this sentence cannot be used as an indirect speech. Thus, this is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Ramesh asked him how I was – is an incorrect answer because the sentence is incorrect, Ramesh asked the other person what how do you do rather than asking about himself. Thus, this is an incorrect option to consider as indirect speech.
Ramesh said to him,” How do you do?”
Ramesh asked him how he was. ( indirect speech)

Hence the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note: In this case, the simple present tense is given in clause. It would be changed to simple past tense. Indirect speech would be - Ramesh asked him how he was. Thus, option B is the correct answer according to the rules and other options are incorrect. So, the rule that it follows is: ‘ask’ + question words + clause. So, the indirect speech Ramesh asked him how he was.