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Misty77 Posted 17 years ago
Grammar
A li'l confused
hiya!
Can someone tell me are these constructions OK
He told me that he lived in France. ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france)
He told me that he thought I was beautiful ( in this construction the tense is present, he thinks that I am beautiful)
The reporter asked the minister if he still believed that his son is innocent ( again the tense is present here) I've seen people writing " The reporter asked the minister if he still believes that his son is innocent."
The newspaper quoted the law firm who is representing Mr. higgins and wrote that the firm still believed his client is telling the truth.
Ta !
Can someone tell me are these constructions OK
He told me that he lived in France. ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france)
He told me that he thought I was beautiful ( in this construction the tense is present, he thinks that I am beautiful)
The reporter asked the minister if he still believed that his son is innocent ( again the tense is present here) I've seen people writing " The reporter asked the minister if he still believes that his son is innocent."
The newspaper quoted the law firm who is representing Mr. higgins and wrote that the firm still believed his client is telling the truth.
Ta !
Top answer
Hi, Can someone tell me are these constructions OK He told me that he lived in France. ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france) 'He lived' is past tense, not present tense. The words in your sentence do not tell us whether he lives in France right now.
- Hi, Can someone tell me are these constructions OK He told me that he lived in France.
- ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france) 'He lived' is past tense, not present tense.
- The words in your sentence do not tell us whether he lives in France right now.
- However, the context often makes this clear.
- eg if he told me this 30 years ago, there is a good chance that he dos not live in France right now.
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4 Answers
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Hi,
Can someone tell me are these constructions OK
He told me that he lived in France. ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france)
'He lived' is past tense, not present tense.
The words in your sentence do not tell us whether he lives in France right now. However, the context often makes this clear.
eg if he told me this 30 years ago, t
Can someone tell me are these constructions OK
He told me that he lived in France. ( Though the tense is present, he lives in france)
'He lived' is past tense, not present tense.
The words in your sentence do not tell us whether he lives in France right now. However, the context often makes this clear.
eg if he told me this 30 years ago, t
00
Ok, but what if i am changing them from direct speech to indirct speech as in : Ron's Dad said " I live in France." So, if I change it to indirect speech the tense will also change. So, in that case " Ron's dad said that he llived in France." Isn't that OK? Similar examples where the tense changes.
The reporter asked the minister if he still believed that his son is innocent.
T
The reporter asked the minister if he still believed that his son is innocent.
T
00
Hi,
Ok, but what if i am changing them from direct speech to indirct speech as in : Ron's Dad said " I live in France." So, if I change it to indirect speech the tense will also change. So, in that case " Ron's dad said that he llived in France." Isn't that OK? Yes. I didn't say it wasn't OK.
Please reread my comment about whether this was said 30 years ago or 30 seconds ago.
Ok, but what if i am changing them from direct speech to indirct speech as in : Ron's Dad said " I live in France." So, if I change it to indirect speech the tense will also change. So, in that case " Ron's dad said that he llived in France." Isn't that OK? Yes. I didn't say it wasn't OK.
Please reread my comment about whether this was said 30 years ago or 30 seconds ago.
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. There's no confusion now!
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