Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:
Teacher: “Tom, read the story, please.”
Teacher asked Tom _______________.
a) To read the story
b) Read the story
c) That he reads it
d) Whether reads the story
e) It he read the story

Answer 1

Hint: The question refers to direct and indirect speech. Indirect speech is reported speech, that is, we translate the speech of the person into our own words. Direct speech is the original speech of the person. That is why we write it in quotes.

Complete answer:
The correct answer is option a. Since we are already using the term “asked”, we do not have to add “that” while converting from direct to indirect speech. Thus the sentence will be: Teacher asked Tom to read the story.
Option b is wrong because without the addition of “to”, it becomes a direct speech, that too which sounds like a command. It is necessary to add prepositions while converting from direct to indirect such as that, to, etc.
Option c is wrong because we are already using “asked” in the beginning of the indirect speech. Using “asked” and “that” is redundant in a speech conversion and is a grammatical mistake.
Option d is wrong because “whether” is not to be used. “Whether” gives a choice to the person and here the teacher is not giving a choice to Tom to read the story.
Option e is wrong because it absolutely does not make sense. The option itself is grammatically wrong.

Note:
It is not always necessary to include “that” in an indirect speech if you are not using “told” in the same indirect speech sentence. There are certain rules of writing an indirect speech that can be read up from websites and books. However, those rules can be avoided in certain cases, provided the transition word used is different.