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Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

John said he 'must' go or he 'had to' go

0 Direct speech: "John I must go".02br
00Indirect: John said he must/had to go. Is 'must' in the past used coorectly in this contest or 'had to' needs to be used?02br
02br
00Thanks0-
  

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5 Answers
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0I would say either "John said THAT he must go" or "Johnd said he had to go." (You can use "that" with the second one, too.)0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Anonymous12cite10Direct speech: "John I must go".12br
10Indirect: John said he must/had to go. Is 'must' in the past used coorectly in this contest or 'had to' needs to be used?12br
12br
10Thanks12br
12blockquote
10 01b01font00He sa
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Philip12cite10 11b11font10He said that he had to go.12font12b12blockquote
10How about "John 01b01font00says02font02b00 he must leave"?0-
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0 Be sure only strict English teachers will care about such things in their exams(:DI know them very well) or else whether you told 01i00had to02i00 or 01i00must02i00 will not make any difference in speech.They will not tell you 01i00hehehe he even can't make it indirect:01font00DBy the way I hope Philip won't
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0 There is nothing wrong with using "must" in this context. "Must" assumes the same form in both the past and present tenses.0-
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