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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Has and reported speech
When we have a sentence in present perfect tense, what tense we apply to the reporting part? For e.g., 'The state dept has said that US is/was cutting aid to .....'
Top answer
If the introducing part of the sentence is in present or present perfect tense, then the reported speech - part keeps the original tense: The state dept 'has said' that the US "is" cutting aid... If the introducing part is in past or past perfect tebse though, the original tense has to be shifted back: The state dept 'said' that the US "was" cutting aid...
- If the introducing part of the sentence is in present or present perfect tense, then the reported speech - part keeps the original tense: The state dept 'has said' that the US "is" cutting aid...
- If the introducing part is in past or past perfect tebse though, the original tense has to be shifted back: The state dept 'said' that the US "was" cutting aid...
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1 Answers
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If the introducing part of the sentence is in present or present perfect tense, then the reported speech - part keeps the original tense:
The state dept 'has said' that the US "is" cutting aid...
If the introducing part is in past or past perfect tebse though, the original tense has to be shifted back:
The state dept 'said' that the US "was" cutting aid...
The state dept 'has said' that the US "is" cutting aid...
If the introducing part is in past or past perfect tebse though, the original tense has to be shifted back:
The state dept 'said' that the US "was" cutting aid...
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