-heard (that) + present tense

Question

People said the following

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I heard you are graduating soon.
I heard her sister is a teacher.

Why not say the following instead?

I heard (that) you had a new CD out next month.
I heard (that) you were graduating soon.
I heard (that) her sister was a teacher.

Thanks in advance

Note: Since 'heard' is past tense and that-clause is its subordinate clause.
Shoudn't the tense of a subordinate clause agree with the tense of the main clause?

Madhulk · Accepted Answer

Hi, meantolearn

Sometimes in the reported speach we can use the present tense
when we want to report something that's pretty sure of occuring.
Of course it's not wrong to say it like you suggested in your second examples.

Meantolearn · Answer

direct speech /qouted speech

Saying exactly what someone has said is called direct speech (sometimes called quoted speech)

Here what a person says appears within quotation marks ("...") and should be word for word.

For example:

She said, "Today's lesson is on presentations."

or

"Today's lesson is on presentations," she said.

indirect speech / reported speech

Indirect speech (sometimes called reported speech), doesn't use quotation marks to enclose what the person said and it doesn't have to be word for word.

When reporting speech the tense usually changes. This is because when we use reported speech, we are usually talking about a time in the past (because obviously the person who spoke originally spoke in the past). The verbs therefore usually have to be in the past too.

courtesy of www.learnenglish.de

________________________

The usage of quoted and reported speech is associted with the verb 'say'.

I looked up many dictionaries but hardly found an example on the use of the verb 'hear' as the following:

quoted speech: None of the examples are given by any dictonary I have.
People say it like this.

I heard, "you have a new CD out next month."
I heard, "you are graduating soon."
I heard, "her sister is a teacher."

reported speech:
I heard (that) you had a new CD out next month.
I heard (that) you were graduating soon.
I heard (that) her sister was a teacher.

-heard (that) + present tense

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