Sentence?

if you are talking about mom's present age, "is" is more appropriate.

Every English sentence begins with a capital letter. I never realized how important that is until I started posting in here.

You meant "39 years".

Natural English makes that "was". It does not matter whether you're talking about her present age or not. He told you his mother's age in the past, and that's how

While backshifting is never wrong in sentences like yours, "is" (simple present) is becoming more and more acceptable nowadays. This is especially true of (and probably should be limited to) sentences having a bearing on the present or expressing universal truths as in

He told me that the earth was/is round. (both are fine)

IvanhrHe told me that the earth was/is round. (both are fine)

I agree that both of those are fine. But I don't think the "mother's age" sentence involves backshifting. Her age will change, but the earth will always be round. She was or was not 39 at the time. But that is all beside the point. "Is" is unnatural there, according to my ear, which is mumble years

But the other person may feel offended if I use "was" because his mother is still alive.

enoon, by backshifting I mean that you normally use "was" with "told". But there are exceptions, of course. I remember Tony Blair being flamed once for using "is" in a similar context.

rajesh jainBut the other person may feel offended if I use "was" because his mother is still alive.

Only if they fail to understand that this use of 'is' is correct and normal English. 'Was' may be more common, especially if; -
- the 'telling' was a long time ago;
- the speaker believes s/he was not told the truth;
- the situation referred to has

fivejejohn,

Do you find the following sentence incorrect?

She said she loves me. (rather than she said she loved me, which would be more usual)

A native speaker of BrE once told me that he didn't see anything wrong with it if the love is still felt.

IvanhrShe said she loves me. (rather than she said she loved me, which would be more usual)A native speaker of BrE once told me that he didn't see anything wrong with it if the love is still felt.

That sentence is fine for me.

It seems to me that we speakers of BrE are less insistent on backshifting than speakers of AmE. However, we always back

As far as (1) is concerned, some course books do mention only backshifting, probably because it is almost always correct; retaining the original tense is often incorrect. However, I strongly disapprove of telling a learner that a correct utterance is incorrect. I tell my learners the truth, pointing out that, if they have any doubts at all, backshifting is the safe option.

I don’t know wh