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Evgeni Papazov Posted 16 years ago
Grammar

Reported speech

I cannot understand how to change these sentences from direct to reported speech
'Where were you when you saw them' he asked.
or
'Did you see the men come out' they wondered.
As a whole what happens when there are more than one verb in the questions.Do they all go one tense back.
THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!
  

Top answer

Evgeni Papazov 'Where were you when you saw them' he asked. We don't know if "you" is a man or a woman. It could be either of these: He asked him where he was when he saw them.

— CalifJim

  • Evgeni Papazov 'Where were you when you saw them' he asked.
  • We don't know if "you" is a man or a woman.
  • It could be either of these: He asked him where he was when he saw them.
  • He asked her where she was when she saw them.
  • Going back one more tense is too awkward here: He asked him where he had been when he had seen them.
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5 Answers
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Evgeni Papazov'Where were you when you saw them' he asked.
We don't know if "you" is a man or a woman. It could be either of these:

He asked him where he was when he saw them.
He asked her where she was when she saw them.

Going back one more tense is too awkward here: He asked him where he had been when he had seen them
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Evgeni PapazovI cannot understand how to change these sentences from direct to reported speech'Where were you when you saw them' he asked.or'Did you see the men come out' they wondered.As a whole what happens when there are more than one verb in the questions.Do they all go one tense back.THANKS IN ADVANCE!!!

'Where were you when you saw them?' he aske
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thank you for the answer; but i am still not sure if a have a question like the first one do all the verbs go one tense back or only the first one; oh and one question more again on reported speech:
' What do they usually eat when they are on holiday'
As a whole what happens with words like usually sometimes..etc
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He asked where I had been when I saw them. (Reported speech.)or..
He asked him where he had been when he had seen them.
if you havent understand me
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Evgeni PapazovHe asked where I had been when I saw them. (Reported speech.)or..He asked him where he had been when he had seen them.if you havent understand me
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