SSC CGL 2025 Tier-I · 19 September 2025, Shift 3 · English Comprehension · Question 21 of 100

We transcribed this text from the pictures on a candidate's response sheet for this shift; the answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. Solution last reviewed 11 September 2026.

Where this paper and its answers come from

SSC does not publish CGL question papers or a public answer key. From 2025 the candidate response sheet prints every question and option as a picture, so the text here is transcribed from those pictures for this shift and checked against them independently; where the layout carries meaning, the picture is shown as well. Each answer is the key SSC colour-marked on that sheet. SSC released a tentative key for challenge and later its final one, both only to candidates behind a login, and the sheet does not say which of the two it carries. The solutions are written by UnlockIAS.

A sentence is provided in direct speech. From the four given options, choose the one that most accurately conveys the sentence in its corresponding indirect speech. Teacher said, “Who broke the window?”

(a)Teacher asked who had broken the window.
(b)Teacher asked who has broken the window.
(c)Teacher asked who did break the window.
(d)Teacher said who broke the window.

Answer

Why

Correct — A. A reported question needs three changes.

The verb: said → asked, because the teacher is asking.
The order: who is the subject of the question, so 'who broke' is already statement order and stays.
The tense: past simple broke moves back to past perfect had broken after the past verb asked.

The question mark becomes a full stop → option (a).

Why the others are wrong

(b)
Teacher asked who has broken the window. — Has broken is present perfect. After a past reporting verb, the past simple broke moves back to the past perfect, had broken, not to the present perfect.
(c)
Teacher asked who did break the window. — Did break adds an auxiliary the question never had: with who as subject, the direct question takes no did. The tense is also left unshifted instead of moving to had broken.
(d)
Teacher said who broke the window. — Keeps said, so the sentence stops being a question: 'said who broke the window' reads as the teacher naming the culprit. It also leaves broke unshifted.

Concept

A reported wh-question keeps its wh-word as the link and becomes a statement: subject, then verb, no question mark. The reporting verb becomes asked.

When the wh-word is itself the subject — who broke, what happened — the direct question already has statement order and no do-support. Only the reporting verb and the tense change.

Everyday English does not always backshift a past simple when the timing is clear. The options here do not turn on that: each one that keeps a past simple also has a second fault — did added, or said kept.

Key facts

After a past reporting verb, past simple backshifts to past perfect: broke → had broken.
A reported question takes a questioning verb such as asked or enquired, not said.
When who is the subject, the plain question takes no auxiliary: 'Who broke the window?'
A reported question ends with a full stop, not a question mark.

Study next

Subject and object wh-questions: 'Who broke it?' against 'What did he break?'Reporting yes/no questions with if or whetherBackshift of the present perfect: has broken → had broken

Common traps

Stopping at has broken — the past simple moves one step back, to the past perfect had broken.
Adding did to make the clause look like a question — a reported question is a statement.
Keeping said because the direct sentence uses said — reporting a question needs asked.

The same wh-question pattern is keyed at 19 Sep 2025, 09:00, English Q.22: 'Why didn't you tell me the truth earlier?' becomes 'She asked why I hadn't told her the truth earlier.'

At 17 Sep 2025, 16:00, English Q.21, 'What are you doing?' becomes 'He asked what I was doing.'

Related PYQs

No directly related past PYQ was found.