Change the sentence from direct speech to indirect speech:
She said, “Don’t the children like the cake?”
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: A
Explanation
The correct answer is option 4 i.e. She asked whether the children liked the cake.
The original question 'Don’t the children like the cake?' is a yes/no question in present simple negative form.
In indirect speech:
Yes/no questions are introduced with if or whether.
Present simple changes to past simple when the reporting verb is in the past (said → asked).
The auxiliary do/does is removed, and the verb changes accordingly (like → liked).
Therefore: She asked whether the children liked the cake.
Why others are incorrect:
'whether the children didn’t like' – Keeps the negative unnecessarily; reported questions usually drop the negative unless it’s important to the meaning.
'why the children didn’t like' – Changes the question type from yes/no to a “why” question.
'about whether the children liked' – Wordy and less natural for direct conversion.