Point out the correct indirect narration of the following sentence :
My mother said to Malati, “Why are you nervous today ?”

The correct answer is Option C (My mother asked Malati why she was nervous that day.).

Key Points:
• This question evaluates the candidate's understanding of Direct and Indirect Speech, a crucial grammatical concept frequently tested in MPSC examinations. Grasping the correct conversion of interrogative sentences is essential for mastering English mechanics.
• Option 3 is the correct answer according to the official MPSC answer key. The rule states that when converting 'Wh-' questions, the question word remains as the conjunction, and the sentence structure changes to an assertive form (Subject + Verb). Furthermore, the time marker 'today' accurately changes to 'that day'.
• Analyzing the other options: Option 1 is flawed because 'yesterday' is the incorrect conversion for 'today' and it wrongly uses 'whether' for a Wh- question. Option 2 maintains the interrogative word order 'why was she', violating the rule of changing to an assertive structure. Option 4 incorrectly uses 'if' instead of the 'Wh-' word and fails on the time marker.
• A common MPSC trap is retaining the question word order (verb before subject) in indirect speech.
• Consistently practicing narrative conversions ensures higher accuracy in identifying structural shifts.
• Key Takeaway: Remember: In indirect speech, interrogative sentences must be converted into assertive sentence structure (Subject + Verb).