Select the option that expresses the given sentence in direct speech.
I asked my mother where she kept the grocery.
- AI said to my mother, "Where have you kept the grocery?"
- BI said to my mother, "Where do you keep the grocery?"
- CI said to my mother, "Where does she keeps the grocery?"
- DI said to my mother, "Where she keeps the grocery?"
Solution & Step-by-step Explanation
The given sentence is in indirect speech. To convert it into direct speech, we must reverse the rules of narration:
The reporting verb "asked" changes back to "said to".
The conjunction/wh-word "where" remains, but the sentence structure inside the quotation marks changes from assertive back to interrogative format (Verb + Subject).
The simple past tense "kept" in indirect speech changes back to the simple present tense ("do you keep") in direct speech.
The pronoun "she" refers back to the listener "my mother", so it becomes the second-person pronoun "you".
Combining these, the direct speech becomes: I said to my mother, "Where do you keep the grocery?"
The reporting verb "asked" changes back to "said to".
The conjunction/wh-word "where" remains, but the sentence structure inside the quotation marks changes from assertive back to interrogative format (Verb + Subject).
The simple past tense "kept" in indirect speech changes back to the simple present tense ("do you keep") in direct speech.
The pronoun "she" refers back to the listener "my mother", so it becomes the second-person pronoun "you".
Combining these, the direct speech becomes: I said to my mother, "Where do you keep the grocery?"