Search results for 'tag:Conditionals tag:Indirect speech' matching tags 'Conditionals' and 'Indirect speech'

Re: indirect speech?

Kooyeen — Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:58:27 GMT

Eh, Rothkowitz, this has sometjhing to do with what I just asked! (see the thread "If I knew what you knew")

It seems both "I wish I could say I was happy" and "I wish I could say I'm happy" can be used with the same meaning. Anyway, I think that the sentence with "was" sounds better, maybe because of a kind of tense agreement.

You also wrote "You could say I'm a happy person"... which is similar to "I'd say this sentence is not correct."

"I'd say this sentence is not correct" sounds good without "was" because it is not part of a conditional structure, it's just a way to express your opinion. But if you put it in a conditional environment, you'll get: "If you didn't put a singular verb in that sentence, I'd say that sentence was not correct."

I'll probably be completely wrong Rothkowitz, but since you are asking the same thing I'm asking in another thread, I decided to tell you my opinion.

Re: order of tenses

Eimai_Anglos — Sun, 31 Jul 2005 00:27:00 GMT

I would do that ..( is this equivalent to "I will do that in that future" ??)

No, "would" is conditional and implies "if".

If it were my choice, I would do that.
If it were possible, I would do that.
If I were you, I would do this.

there would be scarcely no time left over for other things if school children were expected to consider all sides of every matter on which they hold opinions.

There would be hardly any time remaining (to do other things) if school children had to think about everything which concerned them.

What does "he could do that" mean

He might be able to do that if...
He used to be able to do that (but he isn't able to now).
(Depends on the context).

I would have done that

If I had been able to, I would have done that. (past conditional)
If I had known about it, I would have done that.
If you had allowed me to, I would have done that.

It becomes more complicated in this example. He said "I will have done that".. This means "he will have it done sometime in the future"..

Yes.

But when this is converted to indirect speech, it becomes "he said that he would have done that".. Here it means "he could have done that (at some point in past).. But he did not do it..".. Correct ??

Possibly, but I think that it needs more explanation to make the timeframe clear.

Also, which is correct - are expected or were expected ?

Need the context.

Re: Conditional , indirect speech - total mix up

lookfar — Wed, 20 Apr 2005 02:26:53 GMT

No. 1 is best- as for the others
A is good, but if you were to say this to someone you would normally use the present tense
for remember, as it would be a more personal way to impart that single thought. If you were illuding to a broader context, as trying to recount your own past actions, the past tense would
be appropriate. C would be structurally unsound

Conditional , indirect speech - total mix up

Guest — Sun, 17 Apr 2005 16:56:43 GMT

Hello,

Please , could you tell me if the below are correct and if not could you correct them?
Please tell me if in #2, options a,b,c are possible.

1.
I could remember him saying that he wouldn't be doing what he does today if he hadn't met the girl who became his wife.

2.
a) I remembered him saying that he would have attended English classes if he had been wiser.
b) I remembered when he said that ..........(as in #a)
c) I remembered him say .that ......(as in #a)

thank you in advance

Nuances between Modals

hela — Sun, 06 Mar 2005 12:45:25 GMT

Dear teachers,

- What is the difference in meaning between all these sentences ? Are they all correct ?

1a) My friend MAY BE ill. = Present; There is a strong possibility ?
b) My friend MIGHT BE ill. = Conditional; There is a weaker possibility ?
c) My friend MIGHT HAVE BEEN ill. = Past, a weak possibility ?

d) She MIGHT not HAVE SEEN him, if he didnât come up to her. = Past: she saw him.

2a) My friend CAN be ill. = incorrect ? / = Possibility ?
(If correct what's the difference between "CAN BE ill" and "MAY BE ill" ?)

b) My friend COULD BE ill. = Past possibility /
= Conditional: the possibility is stronger than with might ?

c) My friend COULD HAVE BEEN ill. = Past possibility ? difference with b ?

d) She COULD HAVE SEEN him. = past possiblity ?

3a) My friend CANâT BE ill. = Itâs impossible that she is ill.
b) My friend COULDNâT BE ill. = Present: is less certain than with 'canât'? /
= Past impossibility ?

c) My friend COULDN'T HAVE BEEN ill. = Past impossibility ? difference with b) ?

d) She couldnât have seen him = It is impossible that she saw him?

4a) The phone is ringing. It CAN BE Betty. (correct ? expresses possibility ?)
b) The phone is ringing. It MAY BE Betty. (correct ? difference with a) ?)
c) The phone is ringing. It MUST BE Betty. (= certain deduction ?)
d) The phone is ringing. It HAS TO BE Betty. (difference with c) ?)
e) The phone is ringing. It WILL BE Betty. = certain deduction about the present / prediction
difference with c) and d) ?

5a) That will be Roland. I can hear him at the door.

b) âOh, that will be John. He said he would drop by this afternoon."
(direct speech = certain deduction / prediction)

c) That would be John, Mary thought. He had said that he would probably drop by.
(same thing âpresent deduction with a high degree of certaintyâ but in indirect speech ?)

d) That will have been Rolandâ¦ (what can I add here ?) = (correct ? / possible sentence ?)

- Whatâs the difference between âwouldâ and âwill have beenâ?)

I know that this is quite long but I would be very grateful if you could answer all of my questions. In different posts if you like.

Best regards,
Hela

Re: Difference

Raul — Wed, 08 Dec 2004 23:56:35 GMT

Big question! A rule of thumb may be: "would" is related to "will" and "could" is related to "can". So "could" somehow implies "capability".

"Would" is the past form of will and it's often used in similar ways:

Indirect speech:
Tomorrow will be fine.
The forecast said the next day would be fine.

Future in the past:
In 1945, she met the man whom she would one day marry.
Chances are that my letter would arrive in time.

Interpersonal use:
Would you give me a hand, please?
Would you mind waiting for some seconds?
I'd like to speak to John for a moment.

Past habits:
When he was young, he would play chess for hours. (would = used to)

And many more, I guess!

"Could" (like "can") is used to talk about ability, possibility, probability and interpersonal requests:

I couldn't hear a single word! (ability)
You could get a better job if you spoke a foreign language. (conditional)
I aked if you could phone me this evening. (reported speech)
It wa a place where anything could happen. (possibility)
It could rain later this evening. (probability)
Could I ask you something if you don't mind? (permission)
Could you lend me some money? (request)
You could have told me you were not coming. (criticism)

And a huge et cetera!

Hope this helps!

Raul

Re: Reported speech 2 solutions?

pemmican — Sun, 01 Aug 2004 18:58:29 GMT

Both of your examples are correct:
The tense used in indirect speech always depends on the tense which was used in direct speech:

In your 1st example, the tenses are:
"IÂ´ll look (FUTURE) after your cat while you are travelling (PRES. PROGR.) around England the following week."

FUTURE tense shifts back to CONDITIONAL from direct to indirect speech:
will look --> would look
PRES. PROG. shifts back to PAST PROG.:
are travelling --> were travelling

So the sentence will be: "Jack told me that he would look after our cat while we were travelling around England the following week."

In your 2nd example, you have different tenses in direct speech which are shifted back differently to indirect speech:
"IÂ´ll look (FUTURE) after your cat while you will be travelling (FUTURE PROG.) around England the following week."

FUTURE --> CONDITIONAL (as above):
will look --> would look
FUTURE PROGRESSIVE --> CONDITIONAL PROGRESSIVE
will be travelling --> would be travelling

Hence in this case, the sentence will be:
"Jack told me that he would look after our cat while we would be travelling around England the following week."

P.S.: Probier's mal mit der Grammatik "Advaced Modern Practice" aus dem Klett-Verlag )

Re: Modals

pemmican — Fri, 26 Mar 2004 20:18:29 GMT

I don't really understand the question either...

Konstantin, you're referring to the Conditional with your German example.
Indirect speech in German works differently as the Conjunctive has to be used in formal German, which however, can be replaced by the Conditional (would+infinitive).

In English, the tenses have to be shiftes back from direct to indirect speech - .... but NOW - that I've been thinking about this, I might have got an idea of what maj's question aimed at:

The modals "can" and "may" only occur in their forms in simple present and simple past tense, "must" is used in simple present tense only. Now, if you have a sentence including one of these modals, that need to be shifted back, you've to use substitute forms for all of these three modal helping verbs:

Linda: "He can speak English" -------- Linda said he "was able to" (could) speak English.
Linda: "He could speak English" ------ Linda said he "had been able to" speak English.

Linda: "He may go" -------------------- Linda said he "was allowed to" (might) go.
Linda: "He might go" ------------------ Linda said he "had been allowed to" go.

Linda: "He must leave" ----------------- Linda said he "had to" leave.
Linda: "He had to leave" --------------- Linda said he "had had to" leave.

("might" and "could" are commonly usually used as conjunctive forms though, but can express past tense also)

As you can see in these examples, some modals cannot appear in their own forms in special indirect sentences, so maybe that was the problem, maj was aiming at?!

Hope I could help...

Re: Tense ; indirect

pemmican — Tue, 23 Sep 2003 19:00:47 GMT

>We told Sharon that her comments didn't really relate to the key issues at hand.

is correct.
I think, the direct speech sentence is in simple present: "Your comments don't relate to the key issues."

When the "introduction"part of a sentence in indirect speech is in a past tense form (here: "We told...") the actual tense in the following sentence has to be backshifted.

The rules:
DIRECT speech tense -----shifts back to ------> INDIRECT speech tense:

Present (Progressive) ---------------------------> Past (Progressive)
Past (Progressive) -------------------------------> Past Perfect (Progressive)
Present Perfect (Progressive) ------------------> Past Perfect (Progressive)

will-Future (Progressive) ------------------------> Conditional (Progressive)
will-Future Perfect (Progressive) ---------------> Conditional Perfect (Progressive)

Past Perfect, Past Perfect Progressive and the Conditionals cannot be backshifted!
If they occur in a direct speech sentence, they remain the same in the according indirect speech sentence.

Examples:
"I cannot tell a lie" ----------------------> He said, (that) he couldn't tell a lie.
"We are not amused" -------------------> Queen Victoria said (that) they were not amused.
"I came, saw and conquered." ---------> Cesar said (that) he had come, he had seen and he had conquered.
"I went to London." ----------------------> He said (that) he had gone to London.
"I will go to school" ----------------------> He said (that) he would go to school.
"I am eating." ----------------------------> He said (that) he was eating.
"I would never visit her." ----------------> He said (that) he would never visit her.
"I had seen her before I came here." --> He said (that) he had seen her before he had come there."
...