Question

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word:
He asked her “Did anybody call this morning?”
He asked her ________________.
a) If anybody called this morning
b) If somebody had called that morning
c) If somebody called that morning
d) Who called that morning
e) Had called anybody that morning

Answer 1

Hint: For converting from direct to indirect, if the direct speech is in the past tense, the indirect speech is in past perfect. The word “this” changes into “that”. “Yesterday” becomes “day before”. Writing anything in the reported/indirect speech is seen as someone reporting it from a future point in time.

Complete answer:
 The correct answer is option b. Since the direct speech is in the past tense beginning with “did”, the indirect speech is in the past perfect tense with “had”. It is important that there is “had called” in the indirect speech. The “this morning” has also been changed into “that morning”.
Option a is wrong because the past perfect tense (had called) is missing. Also, “this morning” is to be written as “that morning”.
Option c is incorrect because the simple past is to be changed into the past perfect. “If anybody called that morning” is simple past tense.
Option d is wrong because it is colloquial. An interrogative word (who) is to be avoided while writing an assertive sentence.
Option e is also wrong because of its lack of formalism. We may speak like that but we do not write in formal English like that. The “if” is missing from the answer.

Note:
The best way to write in reported speech is to look at the direct speech from a point in time in the future. You are reporting something which has already been uttered. It is not always necessary to use a “that” in reported speech.