Choose the correct direct speech form of the following sentence.
He asked if I had been aware of the policies of the company.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
Conversion from indirect speech to direct speech:
Reporting Verb: The indirect reporting verb "asked" changes back to "said" (followed by a comma and quotation marks) in direct speech to indicate an interrogative sentence.
Conjunction: The word "if" is removed because it is used in indirect speech to introduce a yes/no question. In direct speech, the question begins directly with the verb.
Tense Shift: The past perfect tense "had been aware" shifts back to the simple past tense "were aware" in direct speech.
Pronoun Change: The first-person pronoun "I" (referring to the person being spoken to) changes back to the second-person pronoun "you" in the direct address.
Subject-Verb Agreement: In the direct question, "you" takes the plural/singular past verb "were", making the third option ("Was you...") grammatically incorrect.
Direct speech: He said, "Were you aware of the policies of the company?"