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Anonymous Posted 10 years ago
Grammar
Back-shifting of present perfect tense with "since"
Hi. Please help. How should we back-shift the present perfect tense with the word "since" (as in reported speech) as in the example sentence below?
"He has played soccer since 1985."
Would this be correct?
He said he had played soccer since 1985.
I feel it has to be this, but I'm not sure it's correct or not, since I thought the back-shifting of the present perfect tense was the past perfect tense.
He said he had been playing soccer since 1985.
"He has played soccer since 1985."
Would this be correct?
He said he had played soccer since 1985.
I feel it has to be this, but I'm not sure it's correct or not, since I thought the back-shifting of the present perfect tense was the past perfect tense.
He said he had been playing soccer since 1985.
Top answer
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2 Answers
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Anonymoussince 1985.When you have an absolute time like this, it remains the same in a backshifted version.
You only change relative times: "I'll see you tomorrow" > I said I would see you the next day.
1985 is always the same year, no matter when we say "1985".
"tomorrow" is a different day, depending on which day we s
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