Report the dialogue between a flight attendant and a passenger by filling in the blank : Attendant : Did you have your dinner, sir ? Passenger : Yes, thank you! The flight attendant asked the passenger . The passenger replied in affirmation and thanked him.
Report the dialogue between a flight attendant and a passenger by filling in the blank : Attendant : Did you have your dinner, sir ? Passenger : Yes, thank you! The flight attendant asked the passenger . The passenger replied in affirmation and thanked him.
Official answer
if/whether he had had his dinner
Marking scheme
- 1.0.5 mark: correct connector 'if/whether' plus correct pronoun 'he'.
- 2.0.5 mark: correct tense backshift to past perfect 'had had his dinner' (not 'had his dinner' or 'has had his dinner').
Hint
Simple past 'Did you have' in reported Yes/No questions shifts to past perfect 'had had', with 'if/whether' as connector and 'you' becoming 'he'.
Quick oral answer
The flight attendant asked the passenger if he had had his dinner — the simple past 'did you have' shifts back to the past perfect 'had had' in reported speech.
Common mistakes
- 1.Writing only 'had his dinner' instead of the correct double-auxiliary form 'had had his dinner'.
- 2.Omitting the connector 'if/whether' and writing an ungrammatical direct-question structure.
- 3.Retaining 'sir' unnecessarily or wrongly changing 'he' to 'they'/'the passenger' again, causing redundancy.
Analysis and explanation
Tests reported speech for a Yes/No question with a simple-past direct question, requiring tense backshift to past perfect.
Concept
- "Did you have dinner?" (simple past) reported via past-tense "asked" shifts one step further back to past perfect: "had had".
Key points
- Connector "if/whether" replaces the omitted question word; question order → statement order.
- Pronoun "you" → "he" (the passenger); vocative "sir" dropped.
- Double "had": auxiliary "had" (past perfect) + main verb "had" (past form of "have" in "have dinner").
Common mistakes
- Writing only single "had" ("had dinner") instead of the correct double "had had".
Interesting facts
Double-auxiliary constructions like 'had had' are among the most commonly mis-punctuated and mis-written forms by CBSE students, despite being grammatically standard.
In-flight and travel-themed dialogues are a popular CBSE context for testing everyday conversational reported speech.
The simple-past-to-past-perfect backshift rule applies broadly across narration exercises whenever the reporting verb itself is in the past tense.
Question details
Q16 of 72 questions
- Board
- CBSE
- Class
- Class 10
- Subject
- English (Language & Literature)
- Year
- 2026
- Section
- Section B
- Marks
- 1
- Type
- Short Answer
- Chapter
- Grammar: Reported Speech / Narration (CBSE Class 10 English Language & Literature)
- Topic
- Reported Speech — Dialogue with Past Perfect Backshift
- Bloom's level
- apply
- Syllabus topic
- Unit: Grammar and Creative Writing Skills — Reported Speech (Narration): Simple Past to Past Perfect
- Author
- CBSE
- Reviewed by
- Padhantu Academic Team
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Frequently asked questions
Why does 'did you have' become 'had had' and not just 'had'?
'Did have' is simple past; in reported speech under a past reporting verb, simple past shifts one tense back to past perfect, which is formed with 'had' + past participle. Since the main verb here is 'have' (past participle 'had'), the result is 'had' (auxiliary) + 'had' (participle) = 'had had'.
Do we need to mention 'sir' in the reported version?
No, vocatives/terms of address like 'sir' are typically dropped in reported speech, or replaced by identifying the person referred to (here, 'the passenger'/'he').