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Laborious Posted 12 years ago
Grammar
reporting things which are still in the future
Hello there teachers,
I'd like to ask you few questions about reported (or indirect) speech, please.
The context is:
Around 8 O'clock this morning, I had a chat with my friend. I asked her if she was going to attend her lecture or not and what time her lecture would be. And she said, "Yes. And our lecture will be at 2 O' clock today." Then, I messaged her at 2:30 again and she told me that she was somewhere else with her friends, not at the lecture.
Teachers, this the part which I am confused about:
On hearing this, I said, "But you had told me that your lecture would be at 2 O' clock today. Did you lie to me?"
Here are my doubts and questions, please:
1) Is it okay to use had told in that sentence? Or should I use just 'told'?
2) I read somewhere that when the thing we are reporting is still in the future (at the time of reporting), we could keep the original tenses while reporting. So, if I had massaged her before 2 O' clock, could I have kept the original tense (will be) as well in my reported speech sentence, please?
Thank you all.
I'd like to ask you few questions about reported (or indirect) speech, please.
The context is:
Around 8 O'clock this morning, I had a chat with my friend. I asked her if she was going to attend her lecture or not and what time her lecture would be. And she said, "Yes. And our lecture will be at 2 O' clock today." Then, I messaged her at 2:30 again and she told me that she was somewhere else with her friends, not at the lecture.
Teachers, this the part which I am confused about:
On hearing this, I said, "But you had told me that your lecture would be at 2 O' clock today. Did you lie to me?"
Here are my doubts and questions, please:
1) Is it okay to use had told in that sentence? Or should I use just 'told'?
2) I read somewhere that when the thing we are reporting is still in the future (at the time of reporting), we could keep the original tenses while reporting. So, if I had massaged her before 2 O' clock, could I have kept the original tense (will be) as well in my reported speech sentence, please?
Thank you all.
Top answer
Laborious 1) Is it okay to use had told in that sentence? Or should I use just 'told'? There is no call for past perfect—there are not two past events in the context; simple past is correct.
- Laborious 1) Is it okay to use had told in that sentence?
- Or should I use just 'told'?
- There is no call for past perfect—there are not two past events in the context; simple past is correct.
- Laborious 2) I read somewhere that when the thing we are reporting is still in the future (at the time of reporting), we could keep the original tenses while reporting.
- So, if I had massaged her before 2 O' clock, could I have kept the original tense (will be) as well in my reported speech sentence, please?
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1 Answers
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Laborious1) Is it okay to use had told in that sentence? Or should I use just 'told'?There is no call for past perfect—there are not two past events in the context; simple past is correct.
Laborious2) I read somewhere that when the thing we are reporting is still in the future (at the time of reporting), we could keep the original tens
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