New answers tagged indirect-speech
1
The default rule in English is indeed to backshift when you use past tense for reported speech. For example, see this Google Ngram, which shows that "He said his name was" is around 20 times as common as "He said his name is".
On the other hand, if you want to emphasize the fact that the statement is still true, then you can indeed use the present tense ...
2
Having looked at the site that @bigbadonk420 referred to in his answer, I disagree with that answer and interpretation of the quoted site. On my reading of that site, the two options for reported speech are (using the OP's quotation):
with backshift: He said that his name was Harry
without backshift: He says that his name is Harry
There is no ...
0
Have is right. After to you cannot have a past tense word - here 'had'. To +verb is infinitive . All infinitives will have 'to' and the base verb. (which is always present tense. it is also called as root verb.
1
To have. One should definitely use the infinitive. "He seemed to walk straight", "she was told to listen carefully".
2
1: Mom asked Gramma why she hasn't been answering
2: Mom asked Gramma why she hadn't been answering
3: Mom asked Gramma why she didn't answer
In both #1 and #2, the implication is that Gramma has repeatedly failed to answer. But #1 further implies she was still ignoring the phone right up until when Mom asked why (or, noting StoneyB's comments ...
1
It is not correct to say that the tense of the verb in a reported time clause never changes. It depends on whether the action or state in the time-clause is still true at the time of reporting.
As an example of no tense change, imagine that Person A, three months ago, said to person B: "I will go to Italy when I finish school".
If Person A is still at ...
0
The answer is no, tenses do not shift in reported speech. This conversation would be perfectly natural. Imagine 3 people involved in the conversation and the person sitting furthest away from me doesn't hear my initial statement:
Me (Matt): "I went to Italy after I finished school."
Person 1: "What did Matt say?"
Person 2: "He said he went to Italy after he ...
1
The reporting has no influence on the tense. Imagine this conversation:
"She went to Spain when she finished school."
"Did she say that herself?"
"Yes. She said she went to Spain when she finished school."
Perfectly natural.
Now let me amplify a bit:
When thinking about this situation, one might think of "reported speech" as if a reporter ...
-1
The first sentence is very unnatural english, and you have an illogical discrepancy of time between the two clauses, i.e., had gone and finished.
British English is comfortable with simple past for this kind of reported speech.
The second construct is more difficult because we need to know whether she has finished school or not.
It is okay to keep the ...
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