Question

Imagine that you want to include the quotation in the following sentence in a report you are writing. Mr. Cliff said, “They should realize that if they drop out, they are giving up on themselves.”
Which sentence shows the correct way to insert your own words explaining who they refers to in the quotation?


Mr. Cliff said, “High school students should realize that if they drop out, they are giving up on themselves.”

Mr. Cliff said, “They [high school students] should realize that if they drop out, they are giving up on themselves.”

Mr. Cliff said, “They—high school students—should realize that if they drop out, they are giving up on themselves.”

Mr. Cliff said, “They (high school students) should realize that if they drop out, they are giving up on themselves.”

Answer 1

Option 1 is not correct because the quote is no longer Mr. Cliff's wording. The last choice is also not correct because () should only be used if you need to make a letter capital or change the verb tense for the quote to make sense. [Brackets] are used when including clarifying information in quotations, and [high school students] is clarifying who "They" are. Answer B is correct.