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Anonymous Posted 16 years ago
Grammar
Past P. Continuous in Reported Speech
We've got the following sentence:
What were you doing when I saw you?
When reporting it, should we change both tenses?
She asked me what I had been doing when she had seen me.
or just one?
She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me.
In the original sentence the person saw the other one doing something, i.e. they caught them "red-handed". If we change only one tense the person "had been doing sth" before the other one saw them - that's what it may look like. The tenses are not "on the same time level". It's a bit confusing as far as the logic of grammar goes.
What were you doing when I saw you?
When reporting it, should we change both tenses?
She asked me what I had been doing when she had seen me.
or just one?
She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me.
In the original sentence the person saw the other one doing something, i.e. they caught them "red-handed". If we change only one tense the person "had been doing sth" before the other one saw them - that's what it may look like. The tenses are not "on the same time level". It's a bit confusing as far as the logic of grammar goes.
Top answer
Hi, The sentence She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me is OK. The clause when she saw me is an adverbial of time qualifying the verb had been doing so tere is no need to change it into when she had seen me .
- Hi, The sentence She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me is OK.
- The clause when she saw me is an adverbial of time qualifying the verb had been doing so tere is no need to change it into when she had seen me .
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1 Answers
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Hi,
The sentence She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me is OK. The clause when she saw me is an adverbial of time qualifying the verb had been doing so tere is no need to change it into when she had seen me.
The sentence She asked me what I had been doing when she saw me is OK. The clause when she saw me is an adverbial of time qualifying the verb had been doing so tere is no need to change it into when she had seen me.
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