By Simple past, Direct speech

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...

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...

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 totally at sea about your...

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 totally at sea about your question above,...

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??

Even though the form of the past subjunctive is the same as the form of the simple past, you can distinguish the two by their function: 1. He went to London. 2. If he went to London, he would... The "went" in #2 has nothing to do with the past in terms of time. (Though you might say that the...

"I received a letter a year ago from a woman who had been saved by the people of Le Chambon when she was a young girl." This is the only correct formulation (using the past perfect) and this ISN'T reported or indirect speech. It's just the history of the events, what happened first. The...

Inchoateknowledge wrote: Alienvoord wrote:I wish I knew what is happening next week. I wish I knew what was happening next week.Neither of these is wrong, but the second sounds much more natural to me.In indirect speech, "next" becomes "the next" in past tenseThe second sentence is incorrect.A...

3/ What's the difference between : I would like to see it VS I should like to see it. In American English, you do not use "I should" to mean "I would like to," which translates roughly into "Please, may I see it." I'm sure you can construct a situation in which you'd say "I should like to see...

While doing some reported/indirect speech stuff (again!) lots of questions has come to my mind. Here are some of them. 1/ 'I never eat meat', (Bill said/explained) -> turns into -> Bill said/explained (that) he never ate meat. - This is the normal way in which most of us would...