While doing some reported/indirect speech stuff (again!)
lots of questions has come to my mind. Here are some of them.
1/ 'I never eat meat', (Bill said/explained) -> turns
into -> Bill said/explained (that) he never ate meat. - This is the normal
way in which most of us would transform the sentence, isn't it?
BUT!
a) Is there a change of meaning between the direct and
indirect form? To my liking, the second one, the transformed one, implies that
Bill never ate meat before but nowdays maybe he likes it... My impression is,
that after we transform the sentence, it somehow represents THE PAST, not the
present or general truth. Thus... point b)
b) Thus, I guess, that it would be wiser to say "Bill
said that he never EATS meat" because he probably doesn't eat meat to this
day, it's a permanent truth, general one... but I don't know whether I'm right
or wrong, that's why I'm asking. Is it possible ? Is it grammatically correct?
I guess it's pretty similar like in the following sentence :
"Jack said he loves Mary" and the explanation taken from G. Leech A-Z
Grammar says that he probably still loves her, it's like a general truth...
c) Is this sentence "Bill said he never ate meat"
translated as : "Bill never eats meat" or "Bill never ate it (in
the past!) ?
2/ A very similar problem emerges with 'I'm waiting for Ann'
(said Jack). And, again, the normal way of transforming this sentence would be
: "Jack said (that) he was waiting for Ann".
a) I'm wondering... Does this sentence imply that Jack was
waiting for Ann some day in the past or does it imply that he was waiting for
her "in the present" I don't know if you guys know what I mean... The
thing is that I'd rather say something like "Jack said he is waiting for
Ann" IF, is have to stress it, IF the situation still takes place in the
present tense. BUT...
b) But if, for instance, on the next day, Bill, who is a
friend of Jack, would report what Jack has told him, he would say "Jack
said he was waiting for Ann". Am I right? If yes, why. If no, why?
3/ What's the difference between :
I would like to see it VS I should like to see it.
4/ According to Thomson & Martinet's Practical English
Grammar the following sentece would have a different meaning if we change the
tense from simple past to past perfect in reported speech :
I'm quoting form T&M :
He said, 'I loved her' must become "He said he had
loved her" as otherwise there would be a change of meaning. But - He said,
'Ann arrived on Monday' could be reported "He said Ann arrived
(<had> is optional here) on Monday"
This is presented in the point 309 "Past tenses
sometimes remain unchanged"
a) I don't understand why there would be a change of meaning
in the first sentence. Why do I HAVE to use past perfect? And why in the second
one it's optional?
b) When past tenses remain past tenses without changing into
past perfect? T&M gives examples but no explanmation :/
c) And, again, could we say "He said he loves her"
instead of "He said he loved her" ? Why? Why not?
d) Does "He said he loved her" imply that he,
possibly, doesn't love her anymore?
5/ Which ones are correct? And which ones are TOTALLY
incorrect?
a) He says he knows her. VS
b) He said he knows her. VS
c) He said he knew her. VS
d) He says he knew her.
I guess that :
a) is ok, such a sentence may be heared when a person reads
a letter from somebody outloud.
b) seems fine to me... implies that he knew her, he knows
her and will know her...
c) ok? seems to imply that he used to know her but now he
doesn't because maybe she's abroad or something...
d) correct? Again, a person reading a letter from somebody
could say "Jack says/writes that he knew Jany... (bla bla bla... when they
were at school, for instance) ?
6/ 'Who lives next door' ->
a) He asked who lived next door
VS
b) He asked who lives next door
Again, a) sounds to me like, somebody who lived next door
doesn't live there anymore... But maybe I'm wrong...I don't know.
When I was younger, I used to have no problems with reported
speech, I just adhered to the rules of
tense shifts and things seemed to be ok. But nowdays after years of
learning and studying English, I'm having lots of doubts...
Help me please :- )
PS. Let me know whether I did some mistakes or not in this
post, it's essential to me, not just the reported speech, but other things too.