He said to his servant, "Why are you so lazy today?"

Solution (By Examveda Team)

This question falls under the topic of Reported Speech and specifically deals with Interrogative Sentences in indirect speech. The sentence also includes a question word ("why"), a present continuous tense verb, and a time expression ("today").

Interrogative Sentences in Reported Speech:
When converting a question into reported speech, the sentence structure must follow that of a statement, not a direct question. The auxiliary verb does not precede the subject, and the question mark is removed. Also, the reporting verb "said to" is changed to "asked" when the sentence is a question.

Original Sentence (Direct Speech): He said to his servant, "Why are you so lazy today?"

Step-by-step Breakdown:
1. "Said to" becomes "asked" because a question is being reported.
2. The question word "why" is retained.
3. The auxiliary verb "are" with the subject "you" (present tense) changes to "was" with "he" (past tense and third person).
4. The time expression "today" changes to "that day" in reported speech.
5. The word order changes to that of a statement: subject before verb.

Correct Transformation:
He asked his servant why he was so lazy that day.

Correct Answer: Option A: He asked his servant why he was so lazy that day.

Other Options:
Option B: He asked his servant why he had been so lazy that day. — ❌ Incorrect. "Had been" indicates past perfect, which changes the tense unnecessarily.
Option C: He asked his servant why he was being so lazy that day. — ❌ Incorrect. "Was being" implies a progressive past action, but the original question is in the simple present.
Option D: He asked his servant why was he so lazy that day. — ❌ Incorrect. The sentence keeps the question structure (verb before subject), which is not allowed in reported speech.

Conclusion: The sentence that correctly reflects tense, pronoun, time expression, and word order in reported speech is Option A.