reported speech

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Clive

#393330 Tue, 17 Jul 07 08:11 PM

Hi,

I, too, feel that much of this is mere speculation. So what if we remove much of the context that is leading to speculation?

"Do not report this", Tom warned Mary.

How then would we report the actual words that were said?

I would suggest Tom warned Mary not to report that.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (21,106)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Kooyeen

#393331 Tue, 17 Jul 07 08:15 PM

Yoong Liat wrote:
"Do not report this to the police," the robbers warned their victims.

1. The robbers warned the victim not to report that to the police.

2. The robbers warned the victim not to report the robbery to the police.

Hi Yoong,
I'd say both versions are ok. Then it depends what happened, or what you want to say. The sentence with "that" is not clear only if there is no other context. But after all, if there were no context to justify "that", then the original sentence with "this" would be not clear too.
If the robbers said "Do not report this to the police" referring to the robbery, then they must not be good robbers. Good robbers say "You better keep you damn mouth shut about this. You all never saw us and your bank was never robbed, ok?", I guess, but I'm not a good robber. Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Joined on Thu, Dec 22 2005

Italy

Senior Member (3,964)

If you don't have a sense of humor already, it's about time you buy one.

Yankee

#393360 Tue, 17 Jul 07 08:51 PM

Kooyeen wrote:
But after all, if there were no context to justify "that", then the original sentence with "this" would be not clear too.

I disagree. Context was exactly one of my points, Kooyeen. At the time of a robbery, there is tons of context: the robbery itself. A robber wouldn't have to go to the trouble of saying "Don't report this robbery to the police." or "You better keep you damn mouth shut about this robbery." A robber would easily just say "this". The word 'robbery' is understood.

And even if by some weird chance, one of the victims said "What did that robber just say?", the reported reply is likely to be this:

He warned us not to report this (robbery) to the police.

The word 'this' would likely still be used -- even if the robbers had just walked out the door and were actually gone.

Yankee

Joined on Sat, Apr 15 2006

Connecticut, USA

Senior Member (4,156)

Amy "You can't depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus." - Mark Twain

Kooyeen

#393380 Tue, 17 Jul 07 10:35 PM

- Hey Tom!
- Hey, what's up?
- The robbers warned the victim not to report that to the police.
- What?
- Yes, the robbers warned the victim not to report that to the police.
- What are you talking about? What robbers?
- You know, they warned the victim not to report th...
- Damn, cut it out! I don't even know what you are talking about! I don't have a clue!
- I should have known. I believe it's "that" that confuses you... I should have said "the robbery".
- Uh?
- The robbers warned the victim not to report the robbery to the police.
- Exactly. Yes. Yeah. I see. I understand. Interesting. Cool. That's good. Go on please. Everything is clear now...
- Uh, really? You do you understand?
- Hmm, not really, but I have to.
- Uh? You have to understand?
- Yes. I still don't understand, but I think I am supposed to understand now that you've taken that confusing "that" out of the sentence.
- Oh, yeah, that makes sense. But... wait a second, it DOESN'T make sense! Now I'm kind of confused. I think I'd better ask in Englishforums...

That's a kind of joke. Wink [;)]

What I want to say is that if you want to use "that", "it" or any other pronoun in place of something, you've got to have a good reason to do so. When you use pronouns, the context is vital. So, looking at Yoong examples again, I wouldn't say either is not acceptable. But there's no context at all, so you can't really say what is best and what is definitely odd until you put those sentences in a certain situation. Even the original sentence, with "this", might be odd in certain situations ("Do not report this to..." - Who says this, when and where? And to who? Or who to, or to whom, I don't know, grrrr). Smile [:)]

Kooyeen

Jokes, Nouns, Pronouns, Whom

Yoong Liat

#393442 Wed, 18 Jul 07 03:01 AM

"Do not report this to the police," the robbers warned their victims.

1. The robbers warned their victims not to report that to the police.

2. The robbers warned their victims not to report the robbery to the police.

If I were a teacher, I would accept either answer. I think 'this' refers to the robbery. On the other hand, the rule in reported speech is to change 'this' to 'that'.

To avoid the confusion, the question should be reworded as follows:

"Do not report the robbery to the police," the robbers warned their victims, although in a real situation the robbers will most probably say "Do not report this to the police."

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (5,992)

Yoong Liat

whl626

#393477 Wed, 18 Jul 07 07:38 AM

Using ' this ' sounds more real. I don't think robbers would say ' Do not report the robbery to the police ' in real situation. Instead they would most probably say ' Do not report this to the police. Smile [:)]

whl626

Joined on Sun, Aug 24 2003

Regular Member (882)

Learn English every day

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