Question

Choose the correct reported speech for the following sentence:
He said to me, "how many brothers have you?"

• A. He said how many brothers you had.
• B. He asked me how many brothers I had.
• C. He asked how many brothers did I have.
• D. He asked how many brothers I have had.

Hint:

Remember to always backshift tenses and change pronouns appropriately when converting direct speech to reported speech. For questions, retain the interrogative word and convert the clause to an assertive structure.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is B

Step 1: Understand the rules for converting direct interrogative speech to reported speech.
When converting an interrogative sentence (a question) from direct to reported speech, several changes occur:
The reporting verb "said to me" changes to "asked me" or "enquired of me".
The inverted commas (quotation marks) are removed.
If the direct speech begins with a 'wh-word' (who, what, when, where, why, how), that word is retained in the reported speech.
The interrogative sentence structure changes to an assertive (statement) structure. This means the subject comes before the verb, and auxiliary verbs like 'do/did' are not used in the reported clause.
Tenses are usually backshifted. "Have you" (present perfect) becomes "I had" (past perfect).
Pronouns are changed to reflect the new speaker's perspective. "You" referring to "me" becomes "I".

Step 2: Apply the rules to the given sentence.
Original sentence: "He said to me, "how many brothers have you?""
"He said to me" changes to "He asked me".
The 'wh-word' "how many brothers" is retained.
"have you" (interrogative, present perfect) changes to "I had" (assertive, past perfect, with pronoun change).

Step 3: Evaluate the given options.
(1) He said how many brothers you had. Incorrect. "said" is wrong; "you" is wrong.
(2) He asked me how many brothers I had. Correct. All rules applied correctly.
(3) He asked how many brothers did I have. Incorrect. "did I have" retains an interrogative structure.
(4) He asked how many brothers I have had. Incorrect. Tense "have had" is not the correct backshift for "have you".