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Sb70012 Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Reported speech
1. Direct = She said, "Call me when you get home."
2. Indirect = She said to call her when we get home.
3. Indirect = She said to call her when we got home.
Hello friends,
I am confused about 2 and 3. In grammar book, the author has given number one and asked me to rewrite it in indirect form.
Now I don't know which one to write. 2 or 3? can both be correct?
Thank you
2. Indirect = She said to call her when we get home.
3. Indirect = She said to call her when we got home.
Hello friends,
I am confused about 2 and 3. In grammar book, the author has given number one and asked me to rewrite it in indirect form.
Now I don't know which one to write. 2 or 3? can both be correct?
Thank you
Top answer
#3 is correct. We back-shift tenses in indirect speech. EDIT: CJ is correct.
- #3 is correct.
- We back-shift tenses in indirect speech.
- EDIT: CJ is correct.
- If it is recent, and the event has not happened yet, we do not back-shift.
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7 Answers
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#3 is correct. We back-shift tenses in indirect speech.
EDIT: CJ is correct. If it is recent, and the event has not happened yet, we do not back-shift.
EDIT: CJ is correct. If it is recent, and the event has not happened yet, we do not back-shift.
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sb70012Can both be correct?Yes.
If we still haven't gotten home, I would use 2.
If this is part of a story that took place some time ago, I would use 3.
CJ
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This is quite tricky sometimes. Let me use a slightly different example to illustrate my point as clearly as possible:
She told me to call Bob when I got home. can technically mean When I got home, she told me to call Bob.
She told me to call Bob when I get home. can only mean one thing.
But usually it's obvious from the context what is really meant.
She told me to call Bob when I got home. can technically mean When I got home, she told me to call Bob.
She told me to call Bob when I get home. can only mean one thing.
But usually it's obvious from the context what is really meant.
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I know that number 2 and number 3 are both grammatically correct.
But according to number 1, only number 2 fits well because in number 1:
[1. Direct = She said, "Call me when you get home."]
it means that we are not at home yet.
Am I right?
But according to number 1, only number 2 fits well because in number 1:
[1. Direct = She said, "Call me when you get home."]
it means that we are not at home yet.
Am I right?
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sb70012[1. Direct = She said, "Call me when you get home."]it means that we are not at home yet.How can we know? There's no indication of when she said that.
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You may have noticed, sb, that the responses you are receiving in this forum are very similar to those you have received in other forums. The rules are not going to change.
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sb70012I know that number 2 and number 3 are both grammatically correct.But according to number 1, only number 2 fits well because in number 1: [1. Direct = She said, "Call me when you get home."]it means that we are not at home yet.Am I right?No.
eg.
1. Direct = She said [at 8:40 AM September 11, 2001], "Call me when you get home."
[Writing
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