Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
The professor asked, "How many of you can afford a trip to New York?"
- AThe professor asked how many of you can afford a trip to New York.
- BThe professor asked how many of them can afford a trip to New York.
- CThe professor asked how many of us could have afforded a trip to New York.
- DThe professor asked how many of them could afford a trip to New York.
Solution & Step-by-step Explanation
To convert the direct interrogative sentence into indirect speech, follow these rules:
The reporting verb remains asked.
The connector for a question starting with a question word ("How many") is the question word itself.
The pronoun you shifts to them as the professor is addressing a group of students from a third-person perspective.
The modal verb can changes into its past tense form could.
Applying these changes, we get: The professor asked how many of them could afford a trip to New York. This matches option D.
The reporting verb remains asked.
The connector for a question starting with a question word ("How many") is the question word itself.
The pronoun you shifts to them as the professor is addressing a group of students from a third-person perspective.
The modal verb can changes into its past tense form could.
Applying these changes, we get: The professor asked how many of them could afford a trip to New York. This matches option D.