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BulbulTada Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Appropriate tense in reported speech

Do you think one of these is more appropriate?

  1. When I asked her if she knew what it means by 'to clam up', she clammed up and hung up.
  2. When I asked her if she knew what it meant by 'to clamp up', she clammed up and hung up.
  

Top answer

When I asked her if she knew what it means by 'to clam up', she clammed up and hung up. ) When I asked her if she knew what it meant by 'to clamp up', she clammed up and hung up. )

— AlpheccaStars

  • When I asked her if she knew what it means by 'to clam up', she clammed up and hung up.
  • ) When I asked her if she knew what it meant by 'to clamp up', she clammed up and hung up.
  • )
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3 Answers
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  1. When I asked her if she knew what it means by 'to clam up', she clammed up and hung up. (This one makes sense.)
  2. When I asked her if she knew what it meant by 'to clamp up', she clammed up and hung up. (I don't know what "clamp up" means except in a machine or woodworking shop.)
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BulbulTada

Do you think one of these is more appropriate?

  1. When I asked her if she knew what it means by 'to clam up', she clammed up and hung up.
  2. When I asked her if she knew what it meant by 'to clamp up', she clammed up and hung up.

Both are fine.

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BulbulTadaDo you think one of these is more appropriate?

I do. I am a big fan of matching tenses, mostly because that's always correct.

When I asked her if she knew what it meant ..., ....

Sometimes mismatched tenses

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