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Debpriya De Posted 15 years ago
Grammar
Backshifting
"I thought I told you not to come here again."
Shouldn't this sentence be "I thought I had told you not to come here again" because telling you not to come here again happened before I thought I had told you not come here ?
Shouldn't this sentence be "I thought I had told you not to come here again" because telling you not to come here again happened before I thought I had told you not come here ?
Top answer
Told is fine as people understand it correctly anyway. Logic doesn't always apply in English. CB
- Told is fine as people understand it correctly anyway.
- Logic doesn't always apply in English.
- CB
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4 Answers
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Told is fine as people understand it correctly anyway. Logic doesn't always apply in English.
CB
CB
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Hi,
"I thought I told you not to come here again." This doesn't seem illogical to my English brain.
Clive
"I thought I told you not to come here again." This doesn't seem illogical to my English brain.
Clive
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Clive"I thought I told you not to come here again." This doesn't seem illogical to my English brain.My mom said "I thought I told you..." a lot when she was not happy with me!
I thought I told you not to put your elbows on the table!
How many times do I have to tell you not to put your elbows on the table?
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Debpriya DeI thought I told you not to come here again.It seems to me that people say this as soon as they think it, so the real mystery is why we don't say, "I think I told you not to come here again". We certainly don't say, "I believed I told you not to come here again" even though it's the logical equivalent of "I thought ..."
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