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Change into indirect narration They said, "They have been watching that movie."

Correct answer: C. They said that they had been watching the movie.

  • A. They said that they had been watching that movie.
  • B. They said that they were watching that movie.
  • C. They said that they had been watching the movie.
  • D. They said that they watched the movie.

Explanation

When converting from direct to indirect speech, the verb tense often shifts to a past form. In this case, "have been watching" (present perfect continuous) changes to "had been watching" (past perfect continuous). Additionally, "that movie" is simplified to "the movie," as context in indirect speech often allows for this simplification. Therefore, the correct answer is Option C: "They said that they had been watching the movie."Option A is incorrect because it retains "that movie," which is less clear in indirect speech. Option B incorrectly uses the past continuous tense, which does not accurately reflect the original verb tense. Option D changes the verb to simple past, which is not an appropriate conversion for the present perfect continuous tense.

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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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