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Red olive 901 Posted 4 years ago
Grammar
Rule for reported speech
Hi, I read the sentence below from a reputable newspaper.
He said the FFCCCII is actively pursuing initiatives that will further strengthen confidence in doing business in the city by both local and foreign investors.
Question: Since the above sentence is a reported speech, Is the use of "is" grammatically correct? I learned in school that when the reporting verb is in the past tense, the so-called normal-sequence-of-tenses rule applies for the reported utterance itself: it takes one step back from the present into the past. Are there any exceptions from this rule? If "was" was used instead of "is", would there be any difference in meaning? Thanks.
He said the FFCCCII is actively pursuing initiatives that will further strengthen confidence in doing business in the city by both local and foreign investors.
Question: Since the above sentence is a reported speech, Is the use of "is" grammatically correct? I learned in school that when the reporting verb is in the past tense, the so-called normal-sequence-of-tenses rule applies for the reported utterance itself: it takes one step back from the present into the past. Are there any exceptions from this rule? If "was" was used instead of "is", would there be any difference in meaning? Thanks.
Top answer
e said the FFCCCII is actively pursuing initiatives . . This tells the reader that the past activity continues at the time of reporting.
- e said the FFCCCII is actively pursuing initiatives .
- .
- This tells the reader that the past activity continues at the time of reporting.
- He said the FFCCCII was actively pursuing initiatives .
- .
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2 Answers
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e said the FFCCCII is actively pursuing initiatives . . . This tells the reader that the past activity continues at the time of reporting.
He said the FFCCCII was actively pursuing initiatives . . . This tells the reader nothing about the situation at the time of reporting.
Clive
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red olive 901Since the above sentence isareported speech, is the use of "is" grammatically correct?
It is grammatically correct. Yes.
red olive 901I learned in school that ....
Are there any exceptionsfromto this r
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