Select the option that expresses the given sentence in indirect speech.
The police officer said to him, "Why were you out till late last night?"
- AThe police officer asked him that why he were out till late the previous night
- BThe police officer asked him why he had been out till late the previous night.
- CThe police officer asked him why had he been out till late last night.
- DThe police officer asked him why was he out till late last night.
Solution & Step-by-step Explanation
To change the given interrogative sentence from direct to indirect speech, we follow these rules:
The reporting verb "said to" changes to "asked".
No conjunction like "that" is used before a wh-question word ("why").
The sentence structure inside the quotation marks changes from interrogative (verb + subject) to assertive (subject + verb). Thus, "were you" becomes "he + verb".
The tense changes: Simple past ("were") changes to past perfect ("had been").
Time expressions change: "last night" changes to "the previous night".
Let's evaluate the options based on these transformations:
Option A incorrectly includes "that" and uses incorrect grammar ("he were").
Option B correctly changes the structure to assertive ("why he had been") and updates "last night" to "the previous night".
Option C maintains the interrogative structure ("why had he been") and fails to change "last night".
Option D maintains the interrogative structure ("why was he") and fails to change the tense or time expression.
The reporting verb "said to" changes to "asked".
No conjunction like "that" is used before a wh-question word ("why").
The sentence structure inside the quotation marks changes from interrogative (verb + subject) to assertive (subject + verb). Thus, "were you" becomes "he + verb".
The tense changes: Simple past ("were") changes to past perfect ("had been").
Time expressions change: "last night" changes to "the previous night".
Let's evaluate the options based on these transformations:
Option A incorrectly includes "that" and uses incorrect grammar ("he were").
Option B correctly changes the structure to assertive ("why he had been") and updates "last night" to "the previous night".
Option C maintains the interrogative structure ("why had he been") and fails to change "last night".
Option D maintains the interrogative structure ("why was he") and fails to change the tense or time expression.