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Laborious Posted 13 years ago
Grammar

Reported speech

Hi dear teachers,

Situation:

Somebody knocks at the door and I go to see who it is. I open the door and finds that it is Alice (a friend of my younger brother whose name is, let's say, Tom). and he asks me, "Where's Tom." I reply, "He's upstairs, Let me go and tell him about you."

Now, I go to him (upstairs) and tell him about his friend, Alice.
And he says, "I am coming in a few minutes."

Teachers, now if I go back to Alice and want to report what my brother said to me, which tense form should I use?

For eg; Should I say, "Alice said he was coming in a few minutes."? Or would it be better if I said, "Alice said he is coming in a few minutes."? 

Thank you. 
  

Top answer

Tom says/said he is coming in a few minutes.

— Philip

  • Tom says/said he is coming in a few minutes.
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4 Answers
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Tom says/said he is coming in a few minutes.
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Note that this reported speech is absolutley appropriate when Tom said it a moment ago. If an hour passed and poor Alice is still waiting, you'd say something like "I don't know where he is. He said he would come in just a few minutes."

Also, Alice is a girl's name but you used the pronoun "he."
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Dear Philip and BarbaraPA, thanks to both of you for your helpful replies.
BarbaraPA"I don't know where he is. He said he would come in just a few minutes."
Sir, you say that I should use the above sentence if an hour passes and poor Alice is still waiting. But the original sentence (which was said by Tom himself) was in present continuous tense,
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I suggest either "he said he would come" or "he said he would be coming" but I wouldn't say "He said he was coming" is wrong. Let's see what others say.
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