0
O.ABOOTTY Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Reported Speech
Keats wrote: "A thing of beauty is a joy for ever".
What is the correct indirect speech of this sentence? In my opinion, it should be: Keats wrote that a thing of beauty is a joy for ever. But some people say that it should be: Keats wrote that a thing of beauty was a joy for ever.
I would like to hear from those whose native tongue is English.
What is the correct indirect speech of this sentence? In my opinion, it should be: Keats wrote that a thing of beauty is a joy for ever. But some people say that it should be: Keats wrote that a thing of beauty was a joy for ever.
I would like to hear from those whose native tongue is English.
Top answer
If it remains a joy today (which I am sure it does), then the native writer has the choice of verb tenses there. Standard 'reported-speech' exercises would expect the student to regress the verb to the past form, and that is indeed what native speakers generally do except in the case of 'present or universal truth', whose verb form is sometimes at the mercy of the speaker's image at the moment of utterance. He explained that water boils/boiled at 100°C.
- If it remains a joy today (which I am sure it does), then the native writer has the choice of verb tenses there.
- Standard 'reported-speech' exercises would expect the student to regress the verb to the past form, and that is indeed what native speakers generally do except in the case of 'present or universal truth', whose verb form is sometimes at the mercy of the speaker's image at the moment of utterance.
- He explained that water boils/boiled at 100°C.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
2 Answers
0
If it remains a joy today (which I am sure it does), then the native writer has the choice of verb tenses there. Standard 'reported-speech' exercises would expect the student to regress the verb to the past form, and that is indeed what native speakers generally do except in the case of 'present or universal truth', whose verb form is sometimes at the mercy of the speaker's image at the moment of
00
Usually we use the present tense for reporting written speech, which avoids this problem: "Keats writes that a thing of beauty is a joy for ever".
0
Related Questions