Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence. “Do you suppose you know better than your own father?” jeered his angry m…

Question

Select the correct indirect form of the given sentence. “Do you suppose you know better than your own father?” jeered his angry mother.

1. A. His angry mother jeered that did he suppose he knew better than his own father.
2. B. His angry mother jeered and asked whether he had supposed he has known better than his own father.
3. C. His angry mother jeered and asked if you suppose you know better than your own father.
4. D. His angry mother jeered and asked whether he supposed he knew better than his own father. (Correct answer)

Correct Answer

Option D — His angry mother jeered and asked whether he supposed he knew better than his own father.

Detailed Solution & Explanation

The correct answer is the option beginning His angry mother jeered and asked…

Key Points

• The sentence is a question spoken in a jeering manner, so the reported form needs both parts: a reporting verb for the manner (jeered) and one for the question (asked).
• Converting a yes/no question requires if or whether, statement word order, and no question mark.
• Backshift applies because the reporting verb is past: *do you suppose* → did she suppose, and the pronouns shift from second person to third.
• The option that keeps *jeered* while introducing the question properly is the correct one.

Additional Information

• Reporting verbs carry manner as well as speech act: *jeered, sneered, snapped, muttered, exclaimed* all report how something was said, and the best conversion preserves that.
• A yes/no question takes if/whether; a *wh-* question keeps its question word and drops the auxiliary: "He asked where I lived."
• The interrogative loses its inversion in indirect speech — "Do you suppose…" becomes "…whether she supposed…", never "whether did she suppose".
• Time and place words shift too: *now* → *then*, *this* → *that*, *here* → *there*.