CSEET · Business Communication · Essentials of Good English
Which indirect speech correctly reports: Meera asked, "Where do you keep the board minutes?"
The correct version is 'Meera asked me where I kept the board minutes.' A reported wh-question uses statement word order, backshifts the tense, drops the auxiliary 'do', and ends with a full stop rather than a question mark.
- AMeera asked where did I keep the board minutes.
- BMeera asked me where I kept the board minutes?
- CMeera asked me where I kept the board minutes.Correct
- DMeera asked me that where I kept the board minutes.
Explanation
Wh-questions are reported with the question word and normal statement order, without auxiliary 'do' and without a question mark. 'Do keep' becomes 'kept' in backshift. Option 1 keeps question order, option 2 adds a question mark, and option 4 adds 'that'.
Did you get it right without looking?
One question tells you little. A timed set on Essentials of Good English shows your real accuracy, how long you take and where you lose marks.
More Essentials of Good English questions
- Identify the part of speech of the underlined word in: 'The manager spoke VERY politely to the angry client.'
- While writing a formal report, which choice best maintains coherence between two paragraphs, the first on rising raw-material costs and the …
- Which sentence is free from error?
- Read the passage: "Rohan's firm lost two major clients last year, yet its profits rose because it cut costs sharply and renegotiated supplie…
- In which sentence is the word 'round' used as a preposition?
- Which sentence is the correct passive of: "Who taught you to draft such formal letters?"