Reported Speech & Backshifts

Question

1) Were the following said in April, which would be grammatical?

a. In March, he told us he will be/is leaving the country in May.

b. In March, he told us he would be/was leaving the country in April.

c. "He told us he was going away next week."

2) Does 'this week' refer to the future or future in the past? (Since there has been a backshift, shouldn't next week be 'the following week' or something like that?)

d. Our teacher told us about Justin.

3) Is this reported speech?

Thanks

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi,

1) Were the following said in April, which would be grammatical?

a. In March, he told us he will be/is leaving the country in May.

b. In March, he told us he would be/was leaving the country in April.

To me, both are fine. #1 suggests more strongly that the 'reporter' believes it is still true.

c. "He told us he was going away next week."

2) Does 'this week' refer to the future or future in the past? It refers to the future, to the calendar week following the time of speaking.

(Since there has been a backshift, shouldn't next week be 'the following week' or something like that?) Yes, if it is future in the past. Say eg the next week.

But it might refer to the future, eg if he said this one minute ago, in which case you can backshift but you don't have to. In that case, you'd usually also say 'he is going away'.

d. Our teacher told us about Justin.

3) Is this reported speech? Not really, although I supppose it depends on how you define 'reported speech'. With 'reported speech', you usually get a much clearer idea of what the original words were.

Clive

Reported Speech & Backshifts

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