They said, "Would that she were alive."
Correct answer: D. They wished that she had been alive.
- A. They wished that she were alive.
- B. They wished that she had been live.
- C. They wish that she were alive.
- D. They wished that she had been alive.
Explanation
When converting direct speech to indirect speech:- "They said" becomes "They wished" to indicate the verb of wishing.- "Would that" is a subjunctive expression, but in indirect speech, it's more common to use the past perfect tense "had been" to indicate a hypothetical past situation.
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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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