Bubr  +  22484 Sun, 15 Feb 04 12:22 PM At school we were taught that the sentence She said "I love you" , being converted from direct speech to reported speech form, sounds like She said she loveD me . The verb in the second sentence stands in Past Simple instead of Present Simple: loveD . The teachers emphasised the relevance of this rule because it contradicts the logic of our native language, Russian. Although this rule of changing tenses in reported speech seems fine to me (she said she loveD me then, but it doesn't mean that she is still loving me, I still feel like using the 'incorrect' tense in some cases. It is when the thing that was spoken out was definitely CONSTANT or obviously HASN'T CHANGED by now. For example, At the first lecture the professor told us that Mathematics isn't easy. instead of wasn't easy [because it is as difficult now as it was then and as will always be!] I told her that I am a vampire only yesterday. instead of I was [because I couldn't have changed within one day!] Is it correct? Bubr Joined on Mon, Nov 10 2003 Full Member 437 Verbs, Tenses, Past Simple, Present Simple, Direct Speech

	whl626  +  22488 Sun, 15 Feb 04 01:19 PM At the first lecture the professor told us that Mathematics isn't easy. Your example is not a reported speech as reported speech involves an open and close brackets. So ' wasn't ' should be used to make the sentence look parallel. whl626 Joined on Sun, Aug 24 2003 Regular Member 882 Learn English every day Tenses

	dinosm  +  22490 Sun, 15 Feb 04 02:04 PM I also feel many times that reported speech rules should simply not be there, for the same reason as mentioned above, namely, that if something is constant in nature, I feel it's awkward to refer to it in the past. The professor told us: "Mathematics isn't easy". The professor told us that mathematics isn't easy. If I said "wasn't" there, it would sound to me like mathematics wasn't easy when the professor told us so, but it IS easy now. Instead, if I use "isn't" the ambiguity is gone, and it sounds to me like mathematics wasn't easy when the professor told us so, and is still not easy. Of course, I know all about reported speech tense change rules... But it's perhaps the only part of language grammar (it's not just an english thing, it's the same for many other languages as well) that I really don't like! dinosm Joined on Fri, Nov 28 2003 Manchester, U.K. New Member 43 Grammar, Tenses

	Bubr  +  22494 Sun, 15 Feb 04 03:12 PM whl626, according to my conception, direct speech is written in brackets: The professor said: "Mathematics isn't easy." , whereas reported speech is retelling of other person's words: The professor said that mathematics isn't/wasn't easy. If it's not correct definition - sorry, but that's what I meant. Bubr Tenses

	Bubr  +  22495 Sun, 15 Feb 04 03:14 PM Dinosm, do you mean that reported speech rule doesn't sound good to you in this example, either, but it must still be applied? Did I get you right? Bubr Tenses

	whl626  +  22498 Sun, 15 Feb 04 04:55 PM Wait wait :p. I think you are right. I got a mix-up though. But I still think ' The professor said that Mathematics wasn't easy ' is much better after all. To reason out in such a way that it wasn't easy then but it is easy now seems somewhat irrelevant. Well, just a personal opinion. whl626 Tenses

	dinosm  +  22499 Sun, 15 Feb 04 05:02 PM Yes, "the professor said that mathematics wasn't easy" is the grammatically correct form and it is what should be said if you want to speak and write correctly. What I meant above is that to me personally this structure doesn't sound logical, and it is the only part of grammar that I would (and most of the time do) misuse on purpose! dinosm Grammar, Tenses

	maj  +  22500 Sun, 15 Feb 04 05:19 PM Going back to where we started: Would it be possible to say " She said she loves you", if she said that yesterday but it still applies to the present? maj Joined on Mon, Mar 31 2003 Senior Member 4,756 Tenses

	Bubr  +  22502 Sun, 15 Feb 04 06:11 PM Yeah! Beatles! She said she loves you, and you know that can't be bad! She loves you, and you know you should be glad. She loves you! Yeah Yeah Yeah! Great, maj! If someone accuses me of ignorance for using Present Simple in this case, I will refer to The Beatles Bubr Tenses, Present Simple