Search results for 'tag:Present tenses tag:Direct speech' matching tags 'Present tenses' and 'Direct speech'

Re: modal 'would'

26TMNTJG2PG — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 04:37:16 GMT

Anonymous
I already told Mark that when he would arrive, we would go out for dinner.

Let us recast the sentence in direct speech, that is, you are speaking to Mark, "When you arrive (simple present tense is most suitable here - I wonder you can use any other tense), we shall/will go out for dinner."

When you turn that into an indirect speech, the sentence will become, " I already told Mark that when he arrived, we would go out for dinner."

Re: she's talking about or talked about

Yoong Liat — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:01:48 GMT

I walked to the nurse desk and asked for a bottled water and one of the nurses told me that I couldn't take any liquid before surgery. Instead, she told me to get some rest. I walked back to my room and told my mom. Mom said, "Sounds like she knows what she's talking about."

You're using direct speech (the sentence in bold). This means that what you are talking about happened not long ago and therefore the present continuous tense is fine. When someone asks you to have some food and you have eaten earlier, you will turn down the offer, saying, "No thanks. I have eaten." You've to use the present perfedt tense, not the past perfect tense.

I hope this gives you a clear picture why the present tense is used for something which has taken place recently.

Re: I thought a spider is/was an insect

Pter — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:48:45 GMT

Sorry for starting it again, but I am still not quite sure in this case. I was taught that when talking about universal truths or general knowledge, the present tense should be used in indirect speech.

By the way, I suppose you are just making up an example quickly. I think you know the sun IS in fact a star.

Re: I thought

Kooyeen — Wed, 07 May 2008 17:50:01 GMT

I'm not a native speaker but I am pretty sure the version with the present tense "I though I know" sounds quite odd. You could hear something similar when "I know" is reported as direct speech, or is not really linked to "I thought":
There was this girl, you know, and... like, I thought, "I know her... I'm pretty sure I know her", you know, I had that weird feeling.

But I'm sure that's not what you meant. In non-broken speech, you need to use the past tense after verbs like thought, didn't think, felt, knew, etc. Verbs like those seem to force a backshift in tense because they are more related to your "feelings" at a certain moment in the past than the "information" you had or got.
Oh, so you are American? I thought you were Canadian! I didn't know you were from Florida.

Re: She said that she would/should marry him.(Which one should I use?)

Hoa Thai — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 01:35:12 GMT

Hi Viceidol,

For reported / indirect speech, we convert the present tense to the past tense as shown below:

will, would

can, could

must, had to

shall, should

may, might

Therefore, #2 is correct.

Re: tense in reported speech

Heidita — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:54:59 GMT

Yoong Liat wrote:

The teacher said, "The world is round."

In reported speech, it would be The teacher said that the world is round.

One of my English usage books says it can be reported as The teacher said that the world was round. ( was consistent with said in tense)

What do you think? Other books give only the 'is' version.

Hi Yoong, here we talk about "universal truths" as it were. So, I would also consider only the present tense possible.

Neverless, I wouldn't think so if the sentence was: He said: My brother is an idiot. Is this supposed to be a universal truth or a moment of anger? I don't think, just like in the original sentence of this post, that in a sentence like "He said: Muy brother is honest." we can talk about a universal truth.

Both in Spanish and in Germa the same "problem" exist. In German reported speech should be reported in subjunctive mode, which most of the people completely ignore. It is normally reported in idicative mode. However, in an exam, this would not be accepted. The same here, in my opinion and in my experience.

I have checked a grammar book (Thompson and Mrtinet), and several on-line, and they state explicitly that present becomes past, except for universal truths.

The rule stated one of the "Toefl" pages:

We do not change the tense of verbs in Direct Speech if they make a statement which is always true or if the action is still continuing and a change of tense would give the wrong meaning.

(http://www.myenglishgrammar.com/english/lesson-5-indirect-speech.html)

Re: correct tenses & why

Fleder_m@u_S — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 10:17:28 GMT

Hi,
Im not a guru here, but I still would like to join you in this.

While I was waiting in line, the woman ahead of me asked if I'd heard about the president's being shot. (past progessive. Action in progress at specific past time & second action interrupted it.) I told her she must/ might be mistaken. ( I think it should be simple past because of reported speech) " This is America", I said. (simple present. Direct speech) "Such things have never happened here."

"Said" is an action in the past, but "This is America." and "Such things have never happened here." are in present tense because they're present facts when they were said.

Re: Indirect speech - backshift of tense

Anonymous — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 17:30:06 GMT

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.

Re: indirect speech?

Mister Micawber — Tue, 10 Oct 2006 03:45:20 GMT

With all the wanderings of this thread, I am not sure of the question. Regarding these sentences:

"i wish i could tell you what this is" (this present unidentifiable object)

"i wish i could tell you what this was" (the same object)

"i wish i could tell you how i feel" (right now)

"i wish i could tell you how i felt" (right now)

All are incorrect because I should be spelled with a majuscule. As for the verb forms, all are correct and convey the same present meaning. Wishes are hypothetical statements and take the subjunctive: I wish I were smart; I wish it would rain; I wish I could dance.

Tell is a reporting verb; since it has been put into a 'past' verb form (for hypothetical present), the reported verb regresses; however, if the condition still obtains at the present, the speaker/writer has the option of retaining the present tense: I told you what this is/was (right now-- the object exists in the present).

If you wish to cast the wish into the past: I wished I could have told you what this is/was.

Re: when you have done

Marius Hancu — Sat, 09 Sep 2006 04:17:48 GMT

CalifJim wrote:
This is not a mandatory rule. It's something which is often done (thus, to me, optional), per Swan.

Which part is not mandatory? I may have misunderstood, but I'm assuming the rule you are referring to is: will cannot be used in a when clause where when is an adverbial conjunction. I don't believe there's anything that's not mandatory about it.

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tense simplification in subordinate clauses
present instead of future

Present tenses are often used instead of will + infinitive to refer to the future in subordinate clauses.

This happens not only after conjunctions of time like when, until, after before, as soon, but in most other subordinate clauses -- for instance after if, whether, and on condition that, after question words and relatives and in indirect speech.

Swan, Practical English Usage, p. 583
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As you can see, he says often, not mandatorily or always.