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Jackson6612 Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Direct Narration and Indirect Narration

1b00Direct Speech02b00: 01font00He said, ''She is a beautiful girl.''02font02br
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01b00Indirect Speech02b00: 01font00He said that she was a beautiful girl.02font02br
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00Direct Speech causes no problem to me but I always find Indirect Speech obscure and weird. Why can't it be said 01b01i00he said that she 01i01font00is02font02i00 a beautiful girl02i02b00? If it were 01i00he said that she is a beautiful girl02i00 then I will be having no problem and that will make complete sense to me. Why can't 01b01i00is02i02b00 be used in place of 01b01i00was02i02b00? What is the reason for using 01b01i00was02i02b00?0-
  

Top answer

'02b 00 the meaning is that at the moment the sentence is being said, the situation referred to in that sentence 01b 00is still true02b 00. 02br 02br 00The past tense in the reported clause would normally imply that the situation in the sentence has changed. '02br 02br 02b 00Bye,02br 02br 00Wolfrolf0-

— Wolfrolf

  • '02b 00 the meaning is that at the moment the sentence is being said, the situation referred to in that sentence 01b 00is still true02b 00.
  • 02br 02br 00The past tense in the reported clause would normally imply that the situation in the sentence has changed.
  • '02br 02br 02b 00Bye,02br 02br 00Wolfrolf0-
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36 Answers
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0 Hi,02br
00You can say 01b00'He said that she is a beautiful girl.'02b00 the meaning is that at the moment the sentence is being said, the situation referred to in that sentence 01b00is still true02b00. She is still beautiful.02br
02br
00The past tense in the reported clause would normally imply that the situation in
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0 You can understand this from their names.Direct and indirect.Difference lies here. 0-
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1b00Original Sentence02b00: 01font00It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room.02font02br
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01b00Step 102b00: It was reported that John Doe had been taken to hospital after he was found unconcious in his room.02br
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*71*1p

01b00It is not wrong02b00 to say, "She said that she is a beautiful girl." It emphasises that she is indeed a beautiful girl.02p

01p

01b00It is also not wrong02b00 to say, "She said that she was a beautiful girl.' This is because 'was' (a past tense verb) is consistent with the reporting verb 'said' (a past tense verb).02p

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0 Is there no one to help me in this problem? 0-
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0Well, to tell the truth past perfect isn't used much in English as much as simple past and past perfect can't be changed into past.I mean past perfect is the end of the road.05002br
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00As for your question, I really don't think there will be something wrong if you change it into past perfect.The only thing will be that you will draw our attention to the time order whi
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1b00Direct Narration:02b00 01font00On 15 February 1989, the Soviet Union announced, ''All its troops 01b01i01font00has left02font02i02b00 Afghanistan.''02font02br
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01b00Indirect Narration:02b00 01font
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01cite10Jackson661212cite11b10Direct Narration:12b10 11font10On 15 February 1989, the Soviet Union announced, ''All its troops 11b11i11font11b10have12b10 left12font12i12b10 Afghanistan.''12font
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0 00But there must a tangible reason for doing this. Saying that the verb 01i00has/have02i00 has to be changed to 01i00had02i00 to be consistent with 01i00announced02i00 is not a solid reason for using 01i00had left02i00 instead of 01i00have left02i00 in that sentence.0-
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0 01font00"01b00On 15 February 198902b00, the Soviet Union 01u01b00announced 02b02u00that all its troops 01font01b01i01u01b00had 02b02u00left02i02b02font00 Afghanistan."02br
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