The second one is correct because the first sentence includes opinion without any article or possessive adjective o whatever... the second one doesn’t have this issue

I corrected the obvious typo in A [opinion >> her opinion] “Could you read this essay and give me your opinion on it?”-he asked his classmate A He asked his classmate to read the essay and give him [her] opinion on it B He asked his classmate whether she could read his essay and give him her opinion on it This is an example of using the modal could for a polite request. So, A is the meaning - this is a polite request to read the essay. More information: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/english-grammar-reference/can-and-could [excerpt] Requests We use could you … as a polite way of telling or asking someone to do something: Could you take a message, please? Could I have my bill, please? Also, see English Grammar in Use by Murphy, unit 37. [excerpt] We use "can" or "could" to ask people to do things. Could you open the door please?

‎“Could you read this essay and give me your opinion on it?”-he asked his classmate A He asked his classmate to read the essay and give him opinion on it B He asked his classmate whether she could read his essay and give him her opinion on it Both are technically correct grammar. As Armin points out the "opinion" has no pronoun nor article before it in the second, but this is not incorrect. Give me cheese. - ok Give me your cheese. also ok Give me a piece of cheese. - also ok . The difference here seems to be that I can accept "opinion" as collective, whereas Armin cannot. He may be correct. . But this is not your question. Your question is which one is closest. The second is closest. There are two parts (1) read it [command], or can you read [question] (2) give an opinion [command] or can you give an opinion [question] The intro sentence asks whether they can read it, not tells. The first answer sentence "asks to read" - imperative, there is no question about reading. The second sentence "whether she could read" matches the intro sentence. so "could" in the intro matches best "whether she could read" in the second. . So, with either reasoning, grammar, or best match, you end up selecting sentence two.

The second statement sounds to me as if the speaker were doubtful whether the classmate could read his essay.

The correct answer is A