Change the following sentence from Direct Speech to Indirect Speech.
The wayfarer said to the policeman, “Which is the way to the railway station?”

Correct option is A

Correct indirect speech: (a) The wayfarer asked the policeman which was the way to the railway station.
Definition (Direct Speech):
• Direct Speech → exact words in quotation marks. (Hindi: वक्ता के शब्द ज्यों-के-त्यों)
Definition (Indirect/Reported Speech):
• Indirect Speech → reported words without quotation marks, with grammatical changes. (Hindi: अप्रत्यक्ष कथन)
Step-by-step conversion (in detail):
• Reporting verb: “said to” → asked (because it is a question).
• Remove quotation marks and question mark.
• Since it is a Wh-question (“Which”), we keep the wh-word and do not use if/whether.
• Indirect question uses statement order (no inversion like direct questions).
• Tense backshift: Present “is” often becomes past “was” when reporting verb is in past.
Grammatical rule (English):
• Indirect Wh-question: asked + wh-word + subject + verb (no inversion).
व्याकरणिक नियम (Hindi):
• Wh-question का indirect बनाते समय क्रम होता है: wh-word + subject + verb, inversion नहीं होता; reporting verb past हो तो tense पीछे जाता है (is → was)।
Why other options are incorrect:
• (b) word order is awkward/unnatural for exam-standard indirect form.
• (c) meaning changes (question converted into a statement request without “which”).
• (d) “that which” is incorrect usage in reported speech.
Hence, option (a) is the correct answer.