Reported Speech

I would use (2).

GPYI would use (2).

Why? We back-shift tense in reported speech,right?

LeGion12359 GPYI would use (2).Why? We back-shift tense in reported speech,right?

Back-shifting in the "when" clause sounds wrong to me. That would leave us with "Paul said that he had been reading when he heard that". While this is in my view better than (1), and may be tolerable, it feels to me slightly mismatched, or as if it may be saying that "had been re

GPYBack-shifting in the "when" clause sounds wrong to me.

You mean to say that we never back-shift a tense in a when' clause?

GPY it feels to me slightly mismatched, or as if it may be saying that "had been reading" precedes "heard that", rather than the two things being simultaneous.

Hmm, you are absolutely co

LeGion12359You mean to say that we never back-shift a tense in a when' clause?

No, I don't think that's true. For example,

He said "I'll call you when I arrive in London".
He said he'd call me when he arrived in London.

This sounds OK to me (though "arrives" would also be OK, assuming he hasn't yet arrived).

GPYNo, I don't think that's true. For example,He said "I'll call you when I arrive in London".He said he'd call me when he arrived in London.This sounds OK to me (though "arrives" would also be OK, assuming he hasn't yet arrived)

I think if we are assuming that he hasn't arrived yet, then besides 'arrive', 'will'should also remain the same, otherwise It wo

LeGion12359I think if we are assuming that he hasn't arrived yet, then besides 'arrive', 'will'should also remain the same, otherwise It would be as if he is not sure about calling him. What do you think?

In an ideal world I guess I would advocate tense-matching ("will ... arrives" or "would ...arrived"). In reality, however, I don't notice an error with

GPYIn an ideal world I guess I would advocate tense-matching ("will ... arrives" or "would ...arrived"). In reality, however, I don't notice an error with "would ... arrives". It doesn't imply any less confidence or likelihood that he will call.

Alright, thank you.

GPY"Tom said that his father would give him a present if he passed the

LeGion12359It's become really confusing now. How in the world the reported person would know what Tom said in real, whether he said, "my father would give me a present if I passed.... " (not sure about passing his exam), or "my father will give me a present if I pass..... " (sure about passing his exam)?

There is no way to be sure. However, because the version

GPYThere is no way to be sure. However, because the version with "will" seems a more common thing for Tom to say, it probably would be assumed by default. In fact, now I look at it again, I find it quite hard to visualise Tom saying the version with "would" at all. I suppose it might be used to imply "I and/or my father thinks I have no hope of passing". If the distinctio