Select the most appropriate indirect transformation of the following…

The correct answer is Option (3) → They exclaimed that the hill was very steep and they were quite tired.

Direct	Indirect
"How steep the hill is!" they said, "we are quite tired."	They exclaimed that the hill was very steep and they were quite tired.

Exclamatory sentence in indirect speech:

• Reporting verb: an exclamation is reported with exclaimed (that), not "said" or "told".
• Word order: the exclamation "How steep the hill is!" becomes a statement, and "how" becomes "very": the hill was very steep. The exclamation mark goes.
• Tense change: the reporting verb "said" is in the past, so "is" → was and "are" → were.
• Other standard changes: am/is → was, do/does → did, has/have → had, will → would, can → could, may → might; "now" → "then", "here" → "there".
• Pronoun changes: the speakers' "we" → they.
  Example: "What a lovely view!" she said. → She exclaimed that it was a very lovely view.

Why the Other Options are Incorrect?

Option 1: They told that the hill was very steep and they were quite tired. — Incorrect.

• An exclamation needs "exclaimed"; "told" reports a plain statement.
• "Told" also needs a person after it (told us); "They told that" is not standard English.

Option 2: They said that the hill is very steep and they were quite tired. — Incorrect.

• "Said" loses the sense of exclamation.
• "is" is not changed to "was", although "are" is changed to "were".

Option 4: They exclaimed that the hill is very steep and they were quite tired. — Incorrect. The reporting verb is right, but "is" is not changed to "was" after the past "exclaimed".