They said to us, "We were preparing for the examination."
Correct answer: C. They told us that they had been preparing for the examination.
- A. They told us that we were preparing for the examination.
- B. They told us that you had been preparing for the examination.
- C. They told us that they had been preparing for the examination.
- D. They told us that they were preparing for the examination.
Explanation
"We" becomes "they" (the subject of the sentence).- "were preparing" becomes "had been preparing" (change from past continuous to past perfect continuous).
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About Direct and Indirect Speech
Direct speech gives a speaker’s exact words, whereas indirect speech reports the meaning without quotation marks. Questions cover reporting verbs, pronoun changes, tense backshift, time and place expressions, punctuation, and the transformation of questions, commands and requests, including cases where backshift is not required.
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