Select the suitable option to convert the following into Direct Speech:
Philip said to me, "When did you give the parcel to John ?"
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 1
The correct answer is Option (1) → Philip asked me when had I given the parcel to John.
The given sentence "Philip said to me, 'When did you give the parcel to John?'" is in direct speech, and we need to convert it into indirect speech correctly.
- Reporting Verb: Since it is a question, "said to" changes to "asked" or "enquired".
- Interrogative Pronoun: The word "when" remains unchanged.
- Tense Shift:
- The reported speech is in past simple ("did you give")
- It changes to past perfect ("had given") in indirect speech.
- Change in Word Order: In indirect speech, we remove the auxiliary verb "did" and invert the subject and verb.
Thus, the correct transformation is: "Philip asked me when had I given the parcel to John."