仔細(xì)找了一會兒,個人覺得這個答案應(yīng)該可以滿足你.
回答：《張道真英語用法》（商務(wù)印書館）中關(guān)于matter有這樣的例句：
the matter 表示“有問題”、“有毛病”
例句：Is anything the matter?
　　　What's the matter with the machine?
　　　What's the matter with your foot?
　　從第一句可以看出,anything是主語,the matter 是表語,那么肯定句可以是Something is the matter.或 Nothing is the matter.如果對Nothing 或 something劃線提問的話,那么就是What is the matter?也就是說the matter 是表語；what 是主語,這本身就是陳述語序了.那么在直接引語轉(zhuǎn)間接引語后,She asked what was the matter.是正確的.
　　但是,有可能這種語序讀起來比較拗口,所以也會有She asked me what the matter was的句子出現(xiàn),應(yīng)該也不算錯.可能2006年吧,重慶市中考題中就出現(xiàn)了what the matter was的正確選項,所以這種說法應(yīng)該是已經(jīng)被大家所接受了吧.
但從嚴(yán)格的語法意義上來講,She asked me what was the matter 是正確的.
引用一位美國老師的話,可能從日常用法上說明一下：
　　Could you tell me what the matter was?is the more normal version,but I can't really say why:it's mainly a question of rhythm,I think:it sounds a little better.