In this direct and indirect speech question, choose the best indirect version of the sentence "They said, \"We were just taking pictures.\"".

Introduction / Context:
This question tests your ability to convert a past continuous statement into reported speech with correct tense back shift and appropriate pronouns. The original sentence describes an ongoing past action: the speakers were in the middle of taking pictures at the time they spoke. In reported form, this continuous past action should normally be shifted to past perfect continuous when the reporting verb is in the past.

Given Data / Assumptions:

• Direct speech: "They said, \"We were just taking pictures.\""
• Reporting verb: "said" in past tense.
• The original tense: past continuous ("were just taking").
• The subject "we" refers to the same group as "they" in the reporting clause.

Concept / Approach:
When converting from direct to indirect speech, past continuous typically becomes past perfect continuous if the reporting verb is past. Therefore "were taking" changes to "had been taking". The adverb "just" should be retained in front of "been taking" to preserve the sense of immediacy. The pronoun "we" must become "they" to match the external point of view in the reported sentence. This produces the structure "They said that they had just been taking pictures".

Step-by-Step Solution:
Step 1: Replace "we" with "they" in the reported clause because the reporting subject is "they". Step 2: Back shift the past continuous "were taking" to past perfect continuous "had been taking". Step 3: Keep the adverb "just" in place before "been taking" to maintain the original nuance. Step 4: Introduce the clause with "that". Step 5: Form the complete reported sentence: "They said that they had just been taking pictures."

Verification / Alternative check:
Option b) follows all these steps correctly. Option a) uses "had just took", which is wrong because "had" must be followed by the past participle "taken", not "took", and it also loses the continuous aspect. Option c) keeps the correct tense form but fails to change "we" to "they". Option d) combines both errors, using "we" and "had just took". Only option b) uses the correct tense sequence, preserves the meaning of an ongoing recent action, and uses appropriate pronouns.

Why Other Options Are Wrong:
Option a) incorrectly uses "had just took", which is not a valid past perfect form and loses the sense of continuity.

Option c) uses the right tense but the wrong pronoun, implying that the reporter is part of the "we" group.

Option d) has errors in both tense and pronoun and is clearly unacceptable.

Common Pitfalls:
Learners often forget to preserve the continuous aspect when converting to reported speech and may change everything to simple past or past perfect. Another typical error is failing to change "we" to "they". Remember that past continuous in direct speech generally shifts to past perfect continuous when reported with a past reporting verb, and that pronouns must be adjusted to reflect the new speaker perspective.

Final Answer:
The correct indirect sentence is: "They said that they had just been taking pictures."