Select the correct direct form of the given sentence.

She asked me why I had been smoking that day.

This question was previously asked in
SSC CGL 2022 Tier-I Official Paper (Held On : 01 Dec 2022 Shift 3)
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  1. She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”
  2. She said to me, “Why are you smoking today?”
  3. She said to me, “Why you smoke today?”
  4. She says to me, “Why were you smoking this day?”

Answer (Detailed Solution Below)

Option 1 : She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”
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PYST 1: SSC CGL - English (Held On : 11 April 2022 Shift 1)
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Detailed Solution

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The correct answer is She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”

Key Points

  • The given sentence is in Indirect Speech. As per the question we have to change it to Direct Speech. 
  • The process of transformation is as follows:
    • 'Asked' will be changed into 'said to' because the given question is an example of an interrogative sentence with a question word. 
    • Commas and inverted commas will be added. 
    • 'had been smoking' will be changed into 'were smoking'. Because in 'Indirect to Direct' transformation 'past perfect continuous' tense is changed into 'past continuous'.
    • 'I' will be changed into 'you' because in 'direct to indirect' transformation first-person pronoun is changed according to the subject of the reporting verb.
    • 'Why' will be used as a conjunction because we know that in an interrogative sentence with a question word, the question word itself is used as a conjunction.
    • Therefore, as per the points mentioned above, we find that the correct answer is Option 1. 
       

Correct Sentence: She said to me, “Why were you smoking today?”

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