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Nid01 Posted 10 years ago
Grammar

Reported Speech question

In this sentence: "was it the best way...."

When we change it to the reported speech. Which is correct? do we have to keep the tense as follows : 

He asked if it was the best way....

Or do we have to change the tense as follows:

He asked if it had been the best way....

ie, changing past simple to past perfect.



Thanks a lot in advance.
  

Top answer

"When we change it to the reported speech. Which is correct? Or do we have to change the tense as follows ?

— Anonymous

  • "When we change it to the reported speech.
  • Which is correct?
  • Or do we have to change the tense as follows ?
  • ie, changing past simple to past perfect.
  • Thanks a lot in advance.
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5 Answers
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nid01In this sentence: "was it the best way...."When we change it to the reported speech. Which is correct? do we have to keep the tense as follows : He asked if it was the best way....Or do we have to change the tense as follows? He asked if it had been the best way....ie, changing past simple to past perfect. Thanks a lot in advance.
Shifting tense i
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So you mean there is no difference between: He said ... and : He says ...

Is it right?

Thanks
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Both possible, but different temporal meanings are involved:

He asked if it was the best way ... [simultaneity: it was (still) the best way at the time when the question was asked.]

He asked if it had been the best way .... [precedence: it had been the best way before the time of the question.]
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AnonymousShifting tense is not required, and it can change the meaing! Don't do it.person 1 'Do you have a dog?'person 2 'He asked me if I had a dog.' wrong
It is not wrong.
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Anonymous: 'He asked me if I had a dog.' wrong
GPY It is not wrong.
It is not surprising that that Anon gave an incorrect answer. He is banned from the forum. I would have deleted the post if I had spotted it before it had received responses.
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