Read the conversation between a professional writer and a school student :
Student : What prompted you to become a professional writer ?
Writer : My childhood library housed books of all kinds. I was fascinated with the compelling stories and wanted to create my own.
Report the student's question.
Read the conversation between a professional writer and a school student :
Student : What prompted you to become a professional writer ?
Writer : My childhood library housed books of all kinds. I was fascinated with the compelling stories and wanted to create my own.
Report the student's question.
The student asked the writer what had prompted her/him to become a professional writer. The reporting verb changes to 'asked', word order becomes statement form, tense backshifts to 'had prompted', and the pronoun shifts to 'her/him'.
Marking Scheme
- 10.5 mark: correct reporting verb 'asked' and retention of the Wh-word 'what' without adding 'if/whether'.
- 20.5 mark: correct backshift of tense to 'had prompted', statement word order, and correct pronoun change (her/him).
Hint
Change 'said' to 'asked', keep the Wh-word, switch to statement word order, backshift the tense, and adjust the pronoun.
Quick Oral Answer
The student's question is reported as: 'The student asked the writer what had prompted her/him to become a professional writer' — changing 'said' to 'asked', backshifting the tense, and switching to statement word order.
Analysis & Explanation
Reporting a Wh-question packs four rules — reporting verb, word order, tense backshift, and pronoun shift — into one line.
Concept
- The Wh-word itself connects the reported clause, so no 'if/whether' is added.
- 'Said' becomes 'asked' when reporting a question.
Key Points
- Word order converts to statement form: 'what had prompted her/him', not question order.
- Tense backshifts (prompted → had prompted); pronoun shifts ('you' → 'her/him').
Common Mistakes
- Retaining question word order or the question mark.
- Forgetting to backshift the tense or change the pronoun.
Common Mistakes
- 1Retaining question word order: 'what had prompted you' instead of correctly ordering the clause as a statement.
- 2Forgetting to change 'said' to 'asked' for a question being reported.
- 3Leaving the tense unchanged as 'what prompted' instead of correctly backshifting to 'had prompted'.
- 4Failing to change the pronoun 'you' to reflect the reported (third-person) perspective.
Interesting Facts
The 'backshift' rule in reported speech (simple past → past perfect) exists in English to signal that the reported event happened even earlier relative to the reporting moment, preserving the timeline logically.
CBSE English papers consistently favour interview/conversation-style prompts (writer, scientist, sportsperson) for reported speech questions because they test the Wh-question transformation rule realistically.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Why doesn't the reported sentence use 'if' or 'whether'?
'If/whether' is only used to report yes/no questions; since this is a Wh-question, the Wh-word 'what' itself connects the reported clause.
Why does 'prompted' become 'had prompted'?
Because the reporting verb 'asked' is in the past tense, the rule of backshift requires the reported verb to move one step further back, from simple past to past perfect.