Select the option that expresses the given sentence in direct speech.
The little boy asked his teacher if she had always been good as a child.
Show answer & explanation
Correct answer: D
Explanation
The correct answer is Option 4 i.e. The little boy said to his teacher, “Ma’am, were you always good as a child?”
The given sentence is in indirect speech, to convert this sentence into direct speech we need to follow the following points:
-
'If' will be omitted and Inverted commas will be used.
- In interrogative sentences, if a verb of inquiry, e.g. ask, wonder, want to know etc. is used, it must be changed to the introductory verb i.e. 'said to'.
- Further, 'Had been' will be changed into 'were'.
- Next, the pronoun 'she' will be changed into the pronoun 'you' in the direct speech. And, we know that the pronoun 'you' is always followed by a plural helping verb.
After following these steps, we got the direct speech as: The little boy said to his teacher, “Ma’am, were you always good as a child?”
Hence, the correct answer is Option 4 i.e. The little boy said to his teacher, “Ma’am, were you always good as a child?”