Reported speech with a sequence of events
You're a detective and you're questioning a person about a recent robbery.
Suspect: I saw him come out of his car and then he went into the store and stole the money.
You finish the interrogation and start talking to your colleagues.
You: He said he had seen the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
My question is: Did I report this sentence properly? I started with the past perfect, but, to me, it sounds a bit stilted to say "He said he had seen the suspect come out of his car and that he had then gone into the store and stolen the money".
I used the past perfect only for the first action and then continued with the past simple because I know that's how the past perfect is usually used, but I don't know if this applies to reported speech.
How would you report this? Thank you.
Top answer
You : He said he had seen the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money. That's fine, but you can also say this. The sequence of events is still clear.
- You : He said he had seen the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
- That's fine, but you can also say this.
- The sequence of events is still clear.
- eg You : He said he saw the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
- Instead of come out of hs car, we usually say get out of his car.
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You: He said he had seen the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
That's fine, but you can also say this. The sequence of events is still clear.
eg You: He said he saw the suspect come out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
Instead of come out of hs car, we us
0
Report it like this.
You: He said he had seen the suspect come get out of his car and that he then went into the store and stole the money.
Actually, we often don't bother to use Past Perfect if the sequence of events is clear without it.
You: He said he saw the suspect s car and that he then went into the store and stole the money
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