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Question

Certain electronic devices is/are permitted.

You said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.

I thought you said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.

Change dollars into Francs

Change dollars to Francs

Then comes the noodles

Then comes the noodle

Then come the noodles

Does the internet work?

Is the internet working?

Please include the corrections and the reason behind it. Thanks

Andriy Lapin · Accepted Answer

Dear friend,

Certain electronic devices is/are permitted. - only 'are' is possible (the verb agrees with the head of the subject noun phrase - 'devices', which is plural);

You said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.- 'wanted' implies that the action is not linked to the present moment, it is over and done with; 'want' is used if somebody still means it;

I thought you said you wanted/want me to do the dishes. - 'I thought' does not influence the tense in the reported speech, so the explanation above is valid;

Change dollars into Francs - 'change into' means to give or get foreign money in exchange for: to change dollars into francs.(taken from an Ask.com service); into is perhaps more relevant;

? Change dollars to Francs - less preferable;

~~Then comes the noodles~~ - incorrect, no subject-verb agreement;

Then comes the noodle - correct (sounds ludicrous when talking about pasta; if an unintelligent person is meant, the word is informal and offensive)

Then come the noodles - correct

Does the internet work?

Is the internet working? - even though the second sentence is more preferable in terms of tense, the whole proposition should be changed to Are we connected to the Internet at the moment? Do we have a working Internet connection?, etc, since 'work' barely collocates with 'Internet' semantically.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Pleasehelp · Answer

Gleb_Chebrikoff
You said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.- 'wanted' implies that the action is not linked to the present moment, it is over and done with; 'want' is used if somebody still means it;

I thought you said you wanted/want me to do the dishes. - 'I thought' does not influence the tense in the reported speech, so the explanation above is valid;

Do you mean the two sentences use the same grammar rules?

Andriy Lapin · Answer

Right, Pleasehelp, 'want/wanted' is linked to the verb 'said'; since it is preserved in both cases, I thought should not be analysed in connection with it.

Respectfully, Gleb Chebrikoff

Yankee · Answer

Hi Pleasehelp,

pleasehelpYou said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.

The most likely version of that sentence would be "You said you wanted me to do the dishes". "Wanted" would be a typical choice no matter whether the doing of the dishes is still in the future (i.e. at the present time, the dishes have not yet been done) or whether the dishes have already been done. This is simply a very commonly used pattern for reported speech.

It seems to me that the most likely sort of situation for the use of "want" in that particular sentence might be when someone is listing a lot of things that someone has just told them to do (and those things have not been done yet). For example:

- OK, let me make sure I've got everything. You said you want me to do the dishes, vacuum the livingroom, fold the laundry, and then walk the dog. Right? Is there anything else you want me to do?

However, even in that situation, it would not be at all unusual for someone to use "wanted".

pleasehelpI thought you said you wanted/want me to do the dishes.

Again, I would expect "wanted" to be used. In this case, it seems even less likely to me that someone would choose to use "want" rather than "wanted".

Even if the situation is still current, the use of "wanted" may also be more appropriate simply because "wanted" sounds more distant/remote. Keep in mind that past forms are also used when a present situation is viewed as uncertain. Past forms are also sometimes used in order to be less direct.
Thus, if someone tells you to do the dishes, and then goes on to tell you to do other things which would prevent you from doing the dishes, then you might say "I thought you said you wanted me to do the dishes." -- even though the dishes have not yet been done. Not only is that a typical reported speech pattern, but the use of the past form (wanted) will also help indicate that the present situation is being viewed as uncertain by the speaker. In my opinion, it is extremely unlikely that anyone would use "want" in such a situation.

With regard to sentences that begin with "I thought", the verb that follows will generally be a past form:

- I thought the movie was great!

- I thought he would come.
- I thought you had done that already.
- I thought you liked peanut butter and jelly. I had no idea you didn't.

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