tense in reported speech

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Viceidol

#463886 Mon, 14 Jan 08 07:19 AM

I have a question about the tense in reported speech. Please look at the following sentences:

direct speech: He said, "John is honest."

inrect speech: He said that John was honest.

The last sentence uses "was", does that mean John is not honest now? If not, can we use "is" instead of "was" in the last sentence?

Please help me with my question, and I'd appreciate it.

Viceidol

Joined on Wed, Jul 11 2007

Taiwan

Regular Member (528)

Direct speech, Tenses

Infinik

#463896 Mon, 14 Jan 08 07:37 AM

Viceidol wrote:

direct speech: He said, "John is honest."

inrect speech: He said that John was honest.

I think both sentenses are perfectly OK. The second one means that, John was honest at the time of speaking. So it does not imply whether John is honest now or not, we just can't tell from this sentense alone.

Infinik

Joined on Mon, Jan 14 2008

Junior Member (93)

Direct speech, Tenses

Viceidol

#464041 Mon, 14 Jan 08 01:28 PM

Thank you for your explanation! I umderstand now.

Viceidol

Tenses

Heidita

#464061 Mon, 14 Jan 08 02:11 PM

Infinik wrote:
Viceidol wrote:

direct speech: He said, "John is honest."

inrect speech: He said that John was honest.

I think both sentences are perfectly OK. The second one means that, John was honest at the time of speaking. So it does not imply whether John is honest now or not, we just can't tell from this sentence alone.

I don't agree with this. Indirect speech follows a certain pattern. Present simple passes to past simple. Grammatically speaking, "he said that John is honest" would be incorrect.

cheers Cool [H]

Heidita

Joined on Tue, Jan 1 2008

Junior Member (58)

It's what you do in life that echoes in eternity.

Direct speech, Indirect speech, Past simple, Present simple, Tenses

Marius Hancu

#464072 Mon, 14 Jan 08 02:31 PM

said he is
is correct, but not the strictest.

It's used when you want to make the said text more vivid.

From the BBC:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Abbc.co.uk+%22said+he+is%22+&btnG=Google+Search

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Tenses

Yoong Liat

#464179 Mon, 14 Jan 08 06:54 PM

direct speech: He said, "John is honest."

inrect (indirect) speech: He said that John was honest.

He said that John was honest (ok)

He said that John is honest is also correct if he thinks that John is an honest person.

Yoong Liat

Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006

Singapore

Veteran Member (5,836)

Yoong Liat

Direct speech, Tenses

Infinik

#464382 Tue, 15 Jan 08 04:56 AM

Marius Hancu wrote:
said he is
is correct, but not the strictest.

It's used when you want to make the said text more vivid.

Sounds rather informal to me, or, news-wise style...

Infinik

Tenses

Clive

#464394 Tue, 15 Jan 08 05:21 AM

Hi,

How long ago the original statement was made is very relevant. Was it said 30 years ago, or 30 seconds ago? eg

A: John is honest.

B, to his friend C: I didn't hear that. What did A say?

C: He said that John is honest.

This seems fine to me.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (20,321)

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

Tenses

Heidita

#464462 Tue, 15 Jan 08 11:24 AM

Clive wrote:

Hi,

How long ago the original statement was made is very relevant. Was it said 30 years ago, or 30 seconds ago? eg

A: John is honest.

B, to his friend C: I didn't hear that. What did A say?

C: He said that John is honest.

This seems fine to me.

Best wishes, Clive

Hi Clive, I think the essence here is: Are we talking a bout an exam or "everyday talk"? If it's an exam, I woudl strongly advise against using is here, as in my experience it would surely be marked as a mistake.

cheers Cool [H]

Heidita

Tenses

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