Question

Fill in the blank with a suitable option:

Uncle Ram said to Tom, "Do you know me?"

Uncle Ram asked Tom if______________

A) He knew him

B) Did he know him

C) He knows me

D) You knew him

Answer 1

Hint: The first sentence is in direct speech. The second sentence is in the indirect speech of the same. Indirect speech uses the simple past tense.

Complete step-by-step answer:

From the hint given to us, we know that the first sentence is in direct speech. The second sentence is in the indirect speech of the same. We also know that indirect speech uses the simple past tense. Indirect speech is to report what the speaker has said in our own words.

a) ‘He knew him’ is in the simple past tense. However, we observe that it fits the sentence correctly, it converts the sentence into indirect speech without altering the meaning of the sentence. Hence, option A is possibly the correct answer.

b) ‘Did he know him’ is in the simple past tense. However, we observe that the phrase does not fit the sentence correctly, as the blank is preceded by the preposition ‘if’. Adding this phrase to the sentence will make it ungrammatical. Hence, option B is not the correct answer.

c) ‘He knows me’ is in the simple present tense. Since the phrase is not in the simple past tense, it is unsuitable. Hence, option C is not the correct answer.

d) ‘You knew him’ is in the past tense. However, it incorrectly uses the pronoun ‘you’ for Tom. Hence, option D is not the correct answer.

Hence, option (A) is the correct answer.

Note: In an indirect speech, the second person pronoun is not used, as it is considered to be direct in nature.