Select the option that expresses the given sentence in direct speech.
They said that they had gone on a vacation.
- AThey said, "we have been going on a vacation."
- BThey said, "we has gone on a vacation."
- CThey said, "we had been gone on a vacation."
- DThey said, "we have gone on a vacation."
Solution & Step-by-step Explanation
The given sentence is in indirect speech in the past perfect tense ("had gone").
When converting indirect speech into direct speech:
The past perfect tense ("had gone") shifts back to the present perfect tense (" have gone") or simple past tense.
The pronoun "they" in the reported clause changes back to first-person plural "we" to match the original spoken words of the subject "They".
The conjunction "that" is replaced by quotation marks and a comma.
Let's check Option D: They said, "we have gone on a vacation." Converting this back to indirect speech gives: They said that they had gone on a vacation. This matches perfectly.
When converting indirect speech into direct speech:
The past perfect tense ("had gone") shifts back to the present perfect tense (" have gone") or simple past tense.
The pronoun "they" in the reported clause changes back to first-person plural "we" to match the original spoken words of the subject "They".
The conjunction "that" is replaced by quotation marks and a comma.
Let's check Option D: They said, "we have gone on a vacation." Converting this back to indirect speech gives: They said that they had gone on a vacation. This matches perfectly.