Choose the correct indirect speech form of the following sentence.
Rukmini said to Sanjana, "Why didn't you appear in the UPSC Preliminary Examination last year?"
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: B
Explanation
Transformation from direct to indirect speech:
Reporting Verb: Since the original sentence is an interrogative (a question), the reporting verb "said to" is changed to "asked".
Tense Change: The direct speech is in the Simple Past tense ("didn't appear"). In indirect speech, this shifts to the Past Perfect tense ("had not appeared").
Sentence Structure: In indirect speech, the interrogative word "why" acts as a connector, and the sentence structure changes from a question (verb before subject) to a statement (subject before verb). Therefore, "why she had not" is correct, whereas "why had she not" remains in question form.
Time Reference: The phrase "last year" is updated to "the previous year" to reflect the change in time perspective from the original moment of speaking.
Indirect speech: Rukmini asked Sanjana why she had not appeared in the UPSC Preliminary Examination the previous year.