I enquired of him __________________________________?
Correct answer: D. if he wanted to join the course
- A. whether if he wants to join the course
- B. if he did want to join the course
- C. if he wants to join the course
- D. if he wanted to join the course
Explanation
After a past reporting verb such as “enquired,” the usual sequence-of-tenses rule changes “want” to “wanted”: “I enquired ... if he wanted to join.” “Whether if” is redundant, and the other options do not follow the standard backshift expected here.
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About Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct speech gives a speaker’s exact words, whereas indirect speech reports the meaning without quotation marks. Questions cover reporting verbs, pronoun changes, tense backshift, time and place expressions, punctuation, and the transformation of questions, commands and requests, including cases where backshift is not required.
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