Reported Question

You have already learned in the previous lesson that one of the methods in conveying the message or the spoken words of a person to another is direct or quoted speech. The other method is its opposite, which is the indirect or reported speech.

Indirect or reported speech means transmitting the original message or the spoken words of a speaker in the reporter’s own words. In transmitting the message, there is no need for the reporter to repeat the exact words of the speaker and to enclose the message in quotation marks.

Look at the structure of the following reported speech:

Reporting Clause	Conjunction	Reported Clause
Sita	said	it was her dharma as a wife to be at Rama’s side

A common form of indirect or reported speech is reported question.

For example:

Direct Question: The king asked, “Where did you see the Queen?”

Reported Speech: The king asked me where I saw the Queen.

There are rules observed in reporting questions depending on the kind of question. Refer to the following:

1. Question-word questions — who, what, where, when, why, how

   Example:

   Direct Question: Ravana said to his sister, “Who hurt you?”

   Reported Speech: Ravana asked his sister who hurt her.

   Reported question-word questions are usually introduced by the verb ask.

2. Yes-no questions

   Example:

   Direct Question: Ravana said to his sister, “Do you know who hurt you?”

   Reported Speech: Ravana asked his sister if she knew who hurt her.

   or

   Ravana asked his sister whether she knew who hurt her.

   Reported yes-no questions are introduced by the verb ask + if or whether.