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Ask for help > Indirect speech question
Indirect speech question

anlu79
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Indirect speech question
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Hi my dear colleagues :)
a quick question about indirect speech. If we take the sentence
Claire said �The film had already started when they came � -
what �s the correct indirect speech? Is it a) The film had already started when they had come or b) The film had already started when they came ???
Many thanks!
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10 Jan 2010
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niacouto
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b) is correct. One action is previous to the other.
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10 Jan 2010
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Judith@rwen
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The correct one to me is B. Because you have past perfect and past simple after it, which makes more sense.
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10 Jan 2010
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Carla Horne
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Hi,
If it is really important that Claire said it because someone else said something different, then say," Claire said that the film had already started when they came."
If that isn �t important, then say, "The film had already started when they arrived/came."
Have a good day,
Carla
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10 Jan 2010
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serene
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b) is correct. Past tenses in time clauses do not normally change. |
10 Jan 2010
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