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ESL forum >
Grammar and Linguistics > Reported speech
Reported speech
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marinka_kalinka
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Reported speech
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Dear friends!
Could anyone explain to me one point...? According to some grammar books such as Round Up (which I personally find rather good one) , for instance, when we change direct speech into indirect one, we sometimes change Past Simple into Past Perfect, while sometimes it remains the same. So when does the verb in Past Simple change into Past Perfect and when does it stay the same? I have tried to find any additional information on the Internet but failed. Is here any grammar expert? |
30 Jan 2022
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niksailor
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Good queston, btw. I�m NO grammar expert, but will risk making a few points here: � In my experience, second conditional type sentences are not subject to any tense shift in reported speech, such as "He said that if he ate more fruit he would be healthier" (that�s, I guess, one of those cases when we needn�t transform �ate� into �had eaten�). Do the rest from the forum agree on this point?� � Also, if I�m not mistaken, the past simple does not necessarily change into the past perfect when the year of an action is specified in reported speech. What I mean is, "He said that he applied for that company in 1996". However, much depends on the context... The sentence "He said that he had applied for that company in 1996" sounds ok to me too. Honestly, for some reason, I haven�t come across such sentences for ages and can�t be sure of what I�ve said. � Well, no other relevant cases can come to my mind now�  � � �
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30 Jan 2022
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yanogator
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niksailor, you�re definitely right about the conditional situation, because that is the conditional present form of "eat", which just looks like the simple past, so it doesn�t change. For the other situation, I think it all depends on the formality of the situation, at least in the US. The rule (like many rules) is becoming more relaxed, so the tense shift doesn�t always happen, and the Past Perfect is, in fact, becoming somewhat uncommon here. In a formal sentence, "He said that he had applied to (not for) that company in 1996" is the correct sentence in formal English, but the simple past is definitely common, and acceptable these days. @malinka kalinka (kalinka moya, v sadu yagoda malinka malinka moya), could you give us some examples from the book, so we can see the exact situations? Bruce |
1 Feb 2022
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niksailor
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Thank you, Bruce, for your comment, very informative. And of course, �apply to a company�, I misprinted.
So far, I�ve been thinking about other types of sentences where PS doesn�t go into PP in indirect speech. What about the following imaginary dialog:
A: Yesterday, I bought some pizza for dinner.
B: Pardon? What did you say? Sorry, I misheard.
C: She said that she bought (instead of had bought) some pizza yesterday.
From the �present� perspective, there seem to be no need for making such transformations as �PS into PP�. The past situation is seen from the immediate present.
Marinka_kalinka, I�m absolutely sure now that similar sentences are sometimes dealt with in Round Up, which I know very well myself.
Nikita |
1 Feb 2022
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cunliffe
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I will just note that British English is holding onto this tense (past perfect) much more so than American English. @niksailor - yes, she said she bought some pizza, rather than had bought is right. I do not know why and it is bothering me! Maybe because of the immediacy ? She is just repeating what was said... In fact, that seems the case with a lot of such sentences. I went to town. What did she say? She said she went to town. I love that song!!! Going onto youtube now to give it a listen.  |
2 Feb 2022
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yanogator
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@Lynne, I think it sounds OK because it is nearly direct quotation rather than indirect speech, because of the immediacy. When I saw her brother, he said that she had gone to town. Bruce |
3 Feb 2022
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cunliffe
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Thank you Brucie and have a lovely day. . Lynne |
4 Feb 2022
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