Which tense to use?

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Anonymous

#220732 Fri, 28 Apr 06 11:59 PM

Could anyone help me with the following sentences and tell me which one is correct?

1. Last Saturday, I told my wife not to forget to close the window before she went to bed; but she didn't.

2. Last Saturday, I told my wife not to forget to close the window before she goes to bed; but she didn't.

3. Last Saturday, I told my wife not to forget to close the window before going to bed; but she didn't.

Thank you

Anonymous

Tenses

MrPedantic

#220744 Sat, 29 Apr 06 12:33 AM

Hello Anon

All three are correct.

In #1, you recount a particular incident.

In #2, you recount how you asked your wife to observe a general rule; but that same night, she didn't.

#3 could mean either #1 or #2.

However, the last clause is a little misleading: it would be more idiomatic to say "but she did" (i.e. she did forget), rather than "but she didn't" (i.e. she didn't close the window).

MrP

MrPedantic

Joined on Tue, Oct 12 2004

Veteran Member (12,053)

...opella forensis / adducit febris...

Tenses, Clauses

Marius Hancu

#220757 Sat, 29 Apr 06 01:37 AM

(sorry to repeat the post from another thread; I feel it's quite an important matter)

Indeed, MrPedantic.

Wrt #2:

From the best authority,
back-shifting (from present to past) in the subordinate isn't mandatory:

------
Finally, I give some examples in which the tense has not been adjusted
to that of the chief [main] verb:

Shakespeare:
I should be still Plucking the grasse to know where sits the wind
[more vivid than: sat; note still]

Ellis:
It was firmly believed that the frontal region is the seat of the
highest intellectual processes

Wells:
Joan knew that it is the feminine role to lead conversation

Shaw:
Pithagoras--A sage who held that the earth is round, and that it moves
round the sun

Sutro:
If men knew what women are made of, the world would come to an end
pretty soon.

Note the following quotations: in the first the speaker corrects
herself; in the second the tag-question is perhaps the reason for the
present:

Farber:
She was the first person to tell me what beauty was--is

Rose Macaulay:
Perhaps they also said on Orphan Island that the world was small, that
the boys would be boys, that we've only one life, haven't we.

Onions quotes such colloquial sentences such as:
- He had no idea what twice tow is [also was]
- I asked the guard what time the train usually starts.

Otto Jespersen, Modern English Grammar, vol. 4, chapter on Indirect Speech, p. 156
------

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Grammar, Verbs, Conversations, Tenses, English grammar, Direct speech, Indirect speech