Question : Select the option that expresses the given sentence in reported speech.
The investigator asked me, "Did you see or hear anything in the dead of night?"
Option 1: The investigator asked me if I saw or heard anything in the dead of night.
Option 2: The investigator asked me if I see or hear anything in the dead of night.
Option 3: The investigator asked me if I had seen or heard anything in the dead of night.
Option 4: The investigator asked me that if I had seen or heard anything in the dead of night.
Correct Answer: The investigator asked me if I had seen or heard anything in the dead of night.
Solution : The correct solution is the third option.
When transforming a direct question into reported speech, it's important to use an appropriate reporting verb, adjust the tense, and make necessary changes in pronouns.
The steps of conversion are as follows:
- The reporting verb "asked" is unchanged to emphasise the interrogative nature of the sentence.
- The connector "if" is used to introduce the reported clause in the case of a yes or no question to convert an interrogative sentence to an assertive statement.
- The simple past tense "did see or hear" is changed to the past perfect tense "had seen or heard".
- The second-person pronoun "you" is changed to the first-person pronoun "I".
So, the correct sentence would be: The investigator asked me if I had seen or heard anything in the dead of night.
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