Select the correct direct form of the given sentence. He inquired whether the boy's name was Ahmed.

Correct — B. The trigger is whether: in reported speech it marks a yes/no question. To rebuild the direct question, drop whether and put the verb before the subject.

Undo the tense shift as well. Reporting in the past turned the speaker's is into was, so the direct words go back to is: 'Is the boy's name Ahmed?' → option (b).

Why the others are wrong

• (a)
  He asked, “The boy's name is Ahmed?” — Keeps statement word order, subject before verb, with a question mark added. A direct yes/no question inverts: 'Is the boy's name Ahmed?'
• (c)
  He asked, “Whether the boy's name was Ahmed?” — Whether is the link word of reported speech and does not survive into the speaker's own words. The tense also stays shifted at was.
• (d)
  He asked, “Was the boy's name Ahmed?” — Inverts correctly but leaves the tense shifted back. In the standard backshift a spoken was is reported as had been, so a reported was traces back to is.

Indirect to direct speech reverses each change the reporting made:
whether or if → dropped, and the question inverted
past tense → present, when the reporting verb is past (was → is)
inquired → asked, with the words in quotation marks.

Wh-questions keep their question word instead of whether: 'He asked where I lived' comes from 'Where do you live?'

Key facts

• In reported speech, whether or if introduces a yes/no question.
• A direct yes/no question puts the verb or helper before the subject: Is the boy's name Ahmed?
• After a past reporting verb, a spoken is becomes was.
• In the standard backshift, a spoken was becomes had been.

Common traps

• Keeping whether inside the quotation marks — it belongs only to reported speech
• Leaving was as it stands — the direct words undo the backshift, so was returns to is

No directly related past PYQ was found.