That is:
He asked if that was even a question.
Reported
questions
When
we report what people say, we usually change the tense of the verbs to reflect
that we are reporting – not giving direct speech. This pattern is followed when
we report questions and there are also other important changes between direct
questions and reported questions.
Yes/no questions
Yes/no questions
· Direct
question: “Do you like working in teams?” Reported question: He
asked if I like working in teams.
When
we report yes/no questions we use ‘if’ or ‘whether’.
· Direct
question: “Did you enjoy the party?” Reported question: She
asked me whether I’d enjoyed the party.
The
tense of the verb changes as it does in reported speech but we don’t
use auxiliary verbs. The word order is the same as in an affirmative
sentence.
Questions with a question word
Questions with a question word
· Direct
question: “What time does the train leave?” Reported question: He
asked what time the train left.
When
there is a question word (what, where, why, who, when, how) we use that
question word in the reported question but there is no auxiliary verb and the
word order is like an affirmative sentence (‘what time the train left’
not He asked me what time did the train leave.)
Look at some more examples:
Look at some more examples:
· Direct
question: “Who did you see?”
· Reported
question: She asked me who I’d seen.
· Direct
question: “Where did you go to school?”
· Reported
question: He asked me where I’d gone to school.
· Direct
question: “Why are you crying?”
· Reported
question: She asked him why he was crying.
Notice
that the reported questions do not have a question mark at the end.
Indirect questions
Similar to reported questions are indirect questions.
Indirect questions
Similar to reported questions are indirect questions.
· Can
you tell me what time the train leaves? NOT Can
you tell me what time does the train leave?
· I’d
love to know what he said to her. NOT I’d
love to know what did he say to her.
http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/quick-grammar/reported-questions
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