By Tenses, Indirect speech

Jackson6612 wrote: Original Sentence: It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room. Step 1: It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room. Step 2 (Passive Voice): It was reported (by...

Hi, (Direct) David said "I'm a bit sleepy because I got up early today." (Reported) David said (that) he was a bit sleepy because he got up early today. (Reported) David said (that) he was a bit sleepy because he had gotten up early today. My Questions are these: Do all these sentenses make...

Jackson6612 wrote: Direct Speech: He said, ''She is a beautiful girl.'' Indirect Speech: He said that she was a beautiful girl. Direct Speech causes no problem to me but I always find Indirect Speech obscure and weird. Why can't it be said ''he said that she is a beautiful girl''? If it were...

Original Sentence: It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room. Step 1: It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room. Step 2: It was reported (by Peter) that John Doe had been taken to...

Improving_MY_English wrote: Pioussoul wrote: Improving_MY_English wrote:this sentence in direct speech is in Simple Past and in my CALLAN book, when it was changed into passive they didn't change the tense. and I was wondering why??? can we do that sometimes?? if yes, when??Hi, I'm sorry I am...

The correct version is I said I didn't want to live with her. There should be the consequence of tenses and tha past tense and the present tense in one sentence don't go together.

In reported speech it is understood that the verb tense is the result of changing from direct to indirect speech. 1) You say that if you see her you will show her your new bike. 2) You're not saying that if you saw her you would show her your new bike. Sentence number one in reported speech...

Hi, It might be worth pointing out to learners that in speech this tense would normally involve a quick contraction. She asked me what I'd been going to do after the concert. She asked me what I'd intended to do after the concert. Best wishes, Clive

See my quotations from Jespersen (the famous grammarian) in this thread: Indirect speech - backshift of tense Post:130614 lots of good examples there

Hi, To write ' Media reports said the priest had complained to the police ...' is correct. This is indirect speech. I don't think this has some past perfect aspects. It seems like past perfect to me. Tense is tense. Do you think that past perfect used with indirect speech is not 'real' past...