2nd conditional in reported speech.

Question

Hello.Do we use backshifting when we report a 2'nd conditional sentence?Thank you in advance.

GPY · Accepted Answer

GPY · Answer

Sorry ... thinking again, I'm not so sure that backshifting never happens.

If something is still the case, or still applicable/relevant, then we would not backshift. For example:

He said "If I won the lottery I would retire to the south of France".
He told me yesterday that if he won the lottery he would retire to the south of France.

However, for something said a long time ago, which is no longer applicable/possible, backshifting may seem appropriate:

He wrote "If I was rich, I would move out of this neighbourhood".
I found a letter from my great-grandfather; in it he said that if he had been rich he would have moved out of this neighbourhood.

2nd conditional in reported speech.

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions