Question

She said to him, "Why don't you go today?"
Select the option that correctly converts the above sentence into indirect speech.

• A. She said to him that why he don't go today
• B. She asked him if he was going that day
• C. She asked him why he did not go today
• D. She asked him why he did not go that day.

Hint:

Reported why-questions use asked; also shift don't to did not and today to that day.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

Instead of comparing the four options side by side, let's derive the indirect form directly from the narration rules and then find the matching option.

Direct sentence: She said to him, "Why don't you go today?"

Step 1: The reporting verb "said to him" changes to "asked him" because the quoted sentence is a question, not a statement.

Step 2: The question word "why" is kept as the link between the two clauses; no "that" is inserted after it, and the question mark is dropped.

Step 3: The auxiliary verb tense moves one step into the past: "don't go" (simple present negative) becomes "did not go" (simple past negative).

Step 4: The pronoun "you" refers to the person being spoken to, so it becomes "he" from the reporter's point of view.

Step 5: The time word "today" is tied to the moment of the original conversation, so in reported speech it becomes "that day".

Combining all five steps gives: "She asked him why he did not go that day", which matches option D exactly.

Let's summarize:

• Reporting a "why" question always uses "asked", with "why" itself joining the clauses.
• Move the verb one tense back: "don't go" becomes "did not go".
• "Today" becomes "that day" whenever the reporting verb is in the past.

Building the sentence step by step, rather than only scanning the choices, makes it easy to see why option D is the only fully correct version.