Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
He thought, “What am I going to do?”
He thought __________.
A) What was he going to do
B) What he was going to do
C) What he is going to do
D) It he was going to do
E) What is he going to do

Answer 1

Hint: Sentences can be classified into direct and indirect speech depending on the speaker and the structure of the sentence. When we convert a sentence from direct speech to indirect speech we change the tense to an appropriate tense. Each tense has a different rule for this purpose.

Complete answer:
While reporting a direct speech which is an interrogative sentence, we have to place the auxiliary verb before the subject. Let us see which options fulfil this structure.
Option A) What was he going to do – In this option, the helping verb ‘was’ is before the subject ‘he’. It is the exact same structure as that of an interrogative sentence. Rather it should have been in the structure of an imperative sentence. Thus, this option is incorrect.
Option B) What he was going to do – In this option, the subject ‘he’ is followed by the helping verb ‘was’ which in turn is followed by the main verb ‘going’. This is the correct structure for an imperative sentence. Therefore, this is the correct option.
Option C) What he is going to do – In this option also the correct structure is followed, i.e. ‘he’ (subject), followed by ‘is’ (helping verb), followed by ‘going’ (main verb). But the sentence begins with the words ‘he thought’. ‘Thought’ is the past tense of ‘think’. This means that the sentence is in the past tense. Hence, the helping verb ‘is’ should also have been in the past tense, i.e. ‘was’. Therefore, this option is incorrect.
Option D) It was going to do – In this option the pronoun ‘it’ has been inserted abruptly. It has no significant or rather correct role in that place in the sentence. It is an unnecessary word. Therefore, this option is also wrong.
Option E) What is he going to do – In this option the helping verb ‘is’ is in the present tense, which is incorrect as we have already established that the sentence is in the past tense. Also, the helping verb is before the subject ‘he’ which is the typical structure of an interrogative sentence and not an imperative one. Thus, this option is wrong.

Thus, the correct answer is Option (B) i.e, He thought what he was going to do.


Note: For converting questions that have a ‘yes or no’ answer we add the word ‘if’ in the middle of the sentence. For e.g.
i) Do you need help? – He asked if I needed help.
ii) Is she here? – He wanted to know if she was here.
iii) Can you play the guitar? – He was wondering if I could play the guitar.