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Henry74 Posted 14 years ago
Grammar

She said she would when it started

I'm suddenly having a doubt. The sentence She said she would warn us when the movie started means that the movie has not started yet and I'm saying to, say, a friend that we dont need to worry about it as we will be warned, right?
If instead I'm in a situation where the movie has in fact started and I'm complaining to my friend that we wern't warned I should say She had said she would warn us when the movie started, is that correct?
  

Top answer

Henry74 She said she would warn us when the movie started means that the movie has not started yet No, it doesn't mean that. You can use the same sentence before the movie starts as reassurance and after the movie starts as a complaint. You can even use the same sentence after the movie has finished and again several years later to describe something now past.

— CalifJim

  • Henry74 She said she would warn us when the movie started means that the movie has not started yet No, it doesn't mean that.
  • You can use the same sentence before the movie starts as reassurance and after the movie starts as a complaint.
  • You can even use the same sentence after the movie has finished and again several years later to describe something now past.
  • The sentence just reports what she said, namely, "I will warn you when the movie starts".
  • Adding "had" doesn't help at all.
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2 Answers
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Henry74She said she would warn us when the movie started means that the movie has not started yet
No, it doesn't mean that. You can use the same sentence before the movie starts as reassurance and after the movie starts as a complaint. You can even use the same sentence after the movie has finished and again several years later to describe something n
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Oh, okay.
Thank you for your reply.
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