Question

Fill in the blanks with the most appropriate word:
I asked Nelly, “What are you looking for?”
I asked Nelly what _________ looking for.
A) Are you
B) She was
C) Were you
D) Was she
E) She is

Answer 1

Hint: An interrogative sentence are the sentences that ask a direct question and it is punctuated at the end of the sentence with a question mark. Interrogative sentences gather information and clear all confusion as well as engage in interesting conversations with others. For example: Do you want tea or coffee?

Complete answer:
The given sentence is an interrogative sentence. Here in this sentence narration is also used. Narration means the series of events or narration is the act of telling a story and narration means expressing someone’s words in your own words it is also called indirect speech and when we express someone’s words as it is it is called direct speech.

Rules for the narration and reporting are:
1: Reported verb is changed according to the form and sense in the sentence.
2: Indirect speech does not have inverted commas.
3: Connective words are used in the beginning of the reported speech.

Option A) Are you – is an incorrect answer because ‘are you’ do not follow the rules of Narration and Reporting. Hence, it is an incorrect answer.
Option B) She was – is the correct answer because ‘she was’ follows the rule of the Narration and Reporting. Hence, this is the correct answer.
Option C) Were you - is an incorrect answer because ‘were you’ do not follow the rules of Narration and Reporting. Hence, it is an incorrect answer.
Option D) Was she – is an incorrect answer because ‘was she did not follow the rules of Narration and Reporting. Hence, it is an incorrect answer.
Option E) She is - is an incorrect answer because ‘she is’ does not follow the rules of Narration and Reporting. Hence, it is an incorrect answer.

Hence the correct answer is option ‘B’.

Note:In such types of questions it is very important to understand the rule of narration and reporting. If the reporting verb is in the past tense, the tense of the reported verb is changed into its corresponding past form. Therefore, the reported verb, ‘are’ will change into ‘was’. The first-person pronoun 'I' will change to third person 'she'. In an interrogative sentence, in indirect speech the helping verb is used after the subject.