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Tdkage Posted 22 years ago
Grammar
Little question
Hi there!
I thought you guys could give me a little help in a very simple question but it's making me nuts.
I saw one exercise in a test that said something like:
"Rewrite the sentence keeping the meaning. Begin as indicated." and the 1st sentence was "I didn't steal anything! -He said."
I has to begin with sentece with "He denied....." so I didn't know exactly how to say it..
He denied stealing anything/something/.... I don't know what to use there! would be both of them correct? I wrote in the test "anything" but I'm not pretty sure(by the way this is a test I took here, in Spain, that's why it's so simple) because if I say "I didn't steal anything" "I stole nothing" "I stole something".... that's correct, but what about with the verb "to deny"? The sentence I wrote is positive, but did the verb 'deny' change the sentence there? ahhg! I have no idea!
I really would love if you also could explain me WHY is correct whichever is correct... maybe that way I don't make that kind of mistakes anymore
Thank you very much!!
-Alejandro-
I thought you guys could give me a little help in a very simple question but it's making me nuts.
I saw one exercise in a test that said something like:
"Rewrite the sentence keeping the meaning. Begin as indicated." and the 1st sentence was "I didn't steal anything! -He said."
I has to begin with sentece with "He denied....." so I didn't know exactly how to say it..
He denied stealing anything/something/.... I don't know what to use there! would be both of them correct? I wrote in the test "anything" but I'm not pretty sure(by the way this is a test I took here, in Spain, that's why it's so simple) because if I say "I didn't steal anything" "I stole nothing" "I stole something".... that's correct, but what about with the verb "to deny"? The sentence I wrote is positive, but did the verb 'deny' change the sentence there? ahhg! I have no idea!
I really would love if you also could explain me WHY is correct whichever is correct... maybe that way I don't make that kind of mistakes anymore
Thank you very much!!
-
Top answer
If you SAY that you DID NOT do something, it the same as if you DENY that you DID do it. He said, "I didn't steal anything". Using the reported speech formula, where we change from direct quotation to indirect: He said that he hadn't stolen anything.
- If you SAY that you DID NOT do something, it the same as if you DENY that you DID do it.
- He said, "I didn't steal anything".
- Using the reported speech formula, where we change from direct quotation to indirect: He said that he hadn't stolen anything.
- Now if he said that he hadn't, then he denied that he had.
- He denied that he had stolen anything.
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1 Answers
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If you SAY that you DID NOT do something, it the same as if you DENY that you DID do it.
He said, "I didn't steal anything".
Using the reported speech formula, where we change from direct quotation to indirect:
He said that he hadn't stolen anything.
Now if he said that he hadn't, then he denied that he had.
He denied that he had stolen anything.
He said, "I didn't steal anything".
Using the reported speech formula, where we change from direct quotation to indirect:
He said that he hadn't stolen anything.
Now if he said that he hadn't, then he denied that he had.
He denied that he had stolen anything.
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