Select the correct direct form of the given sentence.

The manager lauded the salesman and said that his performance had been exceptional.

The manager said to the salesman, “Well done! Your performance has been exceptional.”

The correct direct form of the given sentence is:

The manager said to the salesman, "Well done! Your performance has been exceptional."

When converting indirect speech to direct speech, we need to make the following changes:

• Add quotation marks.
• Change the reporting verb to one that is appropriate for the mood of the sentence in indirect speech. In this case, the reporting verb "said" is retained because the sentence in indirect speech is a declarative sentence.
• Change the pronouns to match the subject and object of the direct speech sentence. In this case, the pronoun "his" in the indirect speech sentence is changed to "your" in the direct speech sentence because the object of the direct speech sentence is the salesman.
• Change the verb tense to match the tense of the reporting verb. In this case, the verb tense in the indirect speech sentence is present perfect tense, so the verb tense in the direct speech sentence is also present perfect tense.