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Alexander OJR Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Questions-past tense in spoken English

1)If my friend tells me that he will not attend to the party tomorrow.
And another friend asks me:'Will he be the party tomorrow ?'

You would reply :'He said that he didn't/doesn't want or will/would not to go to the party.' ?

It should be past tense or present tense,I am wondering it now that my friend has told me,It should be the past,so I've got to use past tense-didn't or wouldn't,yet it is his decision now that hasn't past yet,so it also should be present.Please tell me the right answer.

2)If there is a new-opened fun fair,you go there and play the ferris wheel there.After playing it then your friend ask you that 'how did you feel'.your answer should be 'It was fantastic and exciting' or 'It is fantastic and exciting' ?
  

Top answer

Either usage is fine. The meanings are sutlely different. "He says that he doesn't want to go .

— Catherine Demorvan

  • Either usage is fine.
  • The meanings are sutlely different.
  • "He says that he doesn't want to go .
  • " focuses on his current state Eg he is a party pooper.
  • "He said he didn't want to go" just reports the fact of what he said .
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12 Answers
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Either usage is fine.

The meanings are sutlely different.

"He says that he doesn't want to go. " focuses on his current state Eg he is a party pooper.

"He said he didn't want to go" just reports the fact of what he said.

Similar...the ferris wheel is really exciting focuses on his opinion of the ferris-wheel -experience

Hope this
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Catherine DemorvanThe meanings are sutlely different.
What does sutlely mean? I think that you typed wrongly.

I can make sense to what you explained,but in my view,I consider that past tense should be used in daily conversations usually.

Yet I still have a couple of questions about it.

If someone tells me that
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Sorry. Subtly.

You can use either the present or past tense. Both are equally acceptable. If the focus is present use the present.

I don't think you can get a feel for correct usage by learning lots of rules, try watching lots of English films or TV. Then, what is normal usage will just end up sounding nomal, and odd usage sounding odd. This is how I check my German usage...if
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All right,I can make sense what you mean,
Let me make a conclusion,please check and correct if that is something wrong or somewhat unacceptable,thanks.

In my view,If my opening of sentence starts with 'he said',a past tense form,so the next one,I am supposed to continuous using past tense,even there is 'today' including in the content as
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Play is the verb used with games (eg cricket) or musical instruments.

Ride is for fairground rides and horses.

If you want to check usage you can type the phase into google..

Lots of hits means it is almost certainly good English, few hits means it's probably wrong.

Here, ""he said he didn't " = 96 000 hits v "he said he doesn't " = 3,500 hits.
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Alexander OJR'Will he be at the party tomorrow?'
Your question is about backshifts in reports.

If you backshift when you report what someone said, you match past tense to past tense.

He said he didn't want to go to the party. / He said he wouldn't be at the party.
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CalifJimIf you backshift when you report what someone said, you match past tense to past tense.
He said he didn't want to go to the party. / He said he wouldn't be at the party.
If you don't backshift, you don't match tenses, leaving what was said in the present.
He said he doesn't want to go to the party. / He said he won't be at the party.
__________
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Alexander OJRSo backshifting matches past tense to past tense or present to present
It's only considered backshifting when the original statement in the present is used in the report in the past tense. You shift backwards in time. That's how it gets its name.

If you say, "I am tired", and then I say, "He says he is tired", I have not b
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CalifJimIf you say, "I am tired", and then I say, "He says he is tired", I have not backshifted.
If I say, "He said he is tired", I have not backshifted.
If I say, "He said he was tired", then I have backshifted.
I see,so normally will you/people backshift in conversation,or seldom do it in your view/is it important ?
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Alexander OJRso normally will you/people backshift in conversation,or seldom do it in your view/is it important ?
We native speakers almost always backshift. It is very important for students of English to learn how to backshift because it is such a frequent pattern in the grammar of the language.

Not backshifting is the exception.

CJ
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