Says/Said and the reported speech
Hi everyone,
I have some questions regarding the usage of "says and said" in the reported speech and the verbs that we should use in those sentences.
I have been watching English news larely and have found that sometimes the news readers would use "xxxxxx says" rather than "xxxxxx said".
For example,
The Prime Minister says...
The police say...
Is there any difference between the two?
When should each one be used?
The second question I have is that I know the verb in a reported speech sentence need to be "backshifted". However, I still come across sentences that keep their verbs in the present form.
Why is this also correct?
Would you please also give me an example on this? ?
Would you please also help me correct my grammarical mistakes in the post if there are any?
Thank you very much ??
Kenny
Top answer
It's actually not hard to hazard a guess. Even native speakers, no scratch that, especially native speakers make mistake in their speech. Familiarity makes the use of language instinctive.
- It's actually not hard to hazard a guess.
- Even native speakers, no scratch that, especially native speakers make mistake in their speech.
- Familiarity makes the use of language instinctive.
- Some leeway is warranted as long as you fill all the required part of your sentence.
- So to answer the question, the reporter spoke grammatically incorrect.
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It's actually not hard to hazard a guess. Even native speakers, no scratch that, especially native speakers make mistake in their speech. Familiarity makes the use of language instinctive. Some leeway is warranted as long as you fill all the required part of your sentence. So to answer the question, the reporter spoke grammatically incorrect.
Except the Germans. They speak perfect German
0KennyLuthe usage of "says and said"
"says" is typically journalistic, and what is reported is only approximate and summarized. This is not true in "reported speech" such as is taught in English grammar classes, where "said" is expected, and what is reported is as exact as possible.
KennyLuthe verb in a reported speech sentence n
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