In the following English grammar question on reported speech, convert the direct question "She said to me, 'Will you be coming to the party, tomorrow?'" into its correct Indirect Speech form.

Difficulty: Easy

Correct Answer: She asked me if I would be going to the party the following day.

Explanation:


Introduction / Context:
This question checks your understanding of how to change a yes or no type question from direct speech to indirect speech. The original sentence is: She said to me, "Will you be coming to the party, tomorrow?" You must correctly change the tense, pronouns and time expression while preserving the question meaning in reported form. The key ideas here are the use of asked instead of said, the use of if or whether, and the shift from future continuous tense to the appropriate form in indirect speech.


Given Data / Assumptions:

    - Direct speech: She said to me, "Will you be coming to the party, tomorrow?" - Reporting verb: said to me, which becomes asked me in indirect speech. - Question type: yes or no type question. - Verb in reported clause: will be coming (future continuous). - Time expression: tomorrow, referring to the day after the day of speaking.


Concept / Approach:
For yes or no type questions, when converting from direct to indirect speech, we use asked plus if or whether instead of said. Because the reporting verb is in the past tense, the future tense will be coming usually changes to would be going. The pronoun you is from the listener's point of view and changes to I when the speaker reporting is the same person as in the original sentence. The time word tomorrow changes to the following day or the next day. The question form is changed to a statement form in indirect speech without a question mark.


Step-by-Step Solution:

Step 1: Change said to me to asked me to show that it was a question. Step 2: Introduce the reported clause using if. So we have: She asked me if ... Step 3: Change the verb will be coming to would be going, shifting future to would and using going to fit the phrase to the party. Step 4: Change the pronoun you to I, because the person answering the question is the narrator in indirect speech. Step 5: Change tomorrow to the following day, which is standard in reported speech. Step 6: Combine all parts to get: She asked me if I would be going to the party the following day.


Verification / Alternative check:
To verify, convert the indirect sentence back to direct speech. Starting from She asked me if I would be going to the party the following day, we change would be going to will be coming and the following day back to tomorrow. We also add quotation marks and the question mark. This reconstruction gives: She said to me, "Will you be coming to the party, tomorrow?" which matches the original, confirming that the indirect form is correct.


Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option A uses the phrase the day after tomorrow, which changes the time reference and therefore is incorrect. Option B keeps will instead of changing it to would even though the reporting verb is in the past tense. Option C has both will and the day after tomorrow, so it fails in tense and time expression. Option E is close but uses would be coming instead of would be going and does not match the standard transformation that relates to going to the party. The best and most accurate option is the one that correctly shifts tense, pronoun and time reference, which is option D.


Common Pitfalls:
Learners frequently forget to change said to asked when reporting a question. Another mistake is to keep the verb in the future form will when the reporting verb is in the past. Time words like tomorrow, yesterday and today must also be changed carefully. Additionally, pronouns must be adjusted according to who is speaking and who is being spoken to in the new context. Remember that the reported question should be written in statement word order, not as a direct question with a question mark.


Final Answer:
The correct indirect speech is She asked me if I would be going to the party the following day.

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