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Anonymous Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Conditional structure after the word "thought"

Hi. I think in reported speech, if we have a conditional sentence to report, then the tenses in it do not have to be changed (although the back-shift version is also possible I think). Is that right? I think the sentence with the future tense "will" marks an action not yet done.

eg,

He said if he does (did) it, she will (would) get mad.

Can this be correct?

I thought if he does it, she will get mad.

Does this have to be this?

I thought if he did it, she would get mad.
  

Top answer

Anonymous Can this be correct? I thought if he does it, she will get mad. It's more correctly punctuated as I thought, "If he does it, she will get mad" , but in speaking, your listener can't hear the punctuation, so you can certainly say the words that way.

— CalifJim

  • Anonymous Can this be correct?
  • I thought if he does it, she will get mad.
  • It's more correctly punctuated as I thought, "If he does it, she will get mad" , but in speaking, your listener can't hear the punctuation, so you can certainly say the words that way.
  • Anonymous Does this have to be this?
  • I thought if he did it, she would get mad.
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1 Answers
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AnonymousCan this be correct?

I thought if he does it, she will get mad.
It's more correctly punctuated as I thought, "If he does it, she will get mad", but in speaking, your listener can't hear the punctuation, so you can certainly say the words that way.
AnonymousDoes this have to be this?

I tho
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