Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.
He explained why ____________.
a) did he come late
b) was he late
c) late he was
d) he was late

Answer 1

Hint: A phrase is an expression consisting of one or more words forming a grammatical constituent of a sentence. A word is a unit of language that native speakers can identify.

Complete answer:
In the given question, we have to find out which of the options contain a phrase that is grammatically correct to fit in the sentence. Note that the sentence is in indirect speech (reported speech).
Let us thus analyze the options given to us in this question-
Option (a.), 'did he come late', refers to ‘did’ after ‘why’.
Therefore, option (a.) is incorrect as two question words together are not grammatically appropriate for an indirect speech sentence.
Option (b.), ‘was he late', is incorrect as the verb ‘was’ is succeeding the question word ‘why’ which is not the correct syntax for a sentence in reported speech.
Option (c.), ‘late he was', is incorrect as the adjective ‘late’ is succeeding the question word ‘why’ which is not the correct syntax for a sentence in reported speech.
Option (d.), ‘he was late', is correct as of the question word ‘why’ is succeeded by the pronoun ‘he’, and then the verb ‘was’, which is the correct syntax for a sentence in indirect speech.

Note:
In this question, it will be helpful for the student to recall the concept of indirect speech. Indirect or reported speech is (grammar) a form of speech used to express what another has said; often involves a change in tense.