Tense exercise

Question

Hi, please correct this. To paraphrase what someone has said, should I make all my tenses reflect the past time frames?

I heard Jane Doe speaking about a suject that was dear to me: finding solutions to martial problems. She spoke clearly and made some excellent points that rang true to me and made me think more deeply about the subject at hand. She said it would be hard for any husband or wife to try to change their partner's behavior. She said that it would be almost impossible to succeed in their attempt would be no use trying and went onto say that if they are in maritable trouble, the only realistic measure they could take it is to live with whatever personality fault or defects their partner might have.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

AnonymousI heard Jane Doe speaking about a ~~suject~~ subject that was dear to me: finding solutions to ~~martial~~ marital problems. She spoke clearly and made some excellent points that rang true to me and made me think more deeply about the subject at hand. She said it would be hard for any husband or wife to try to change their partner's behavior. She said that it would be almost impossible to succeed in ~~their~~ such an attempt , and that there would be no use in trying . ~~and went onto~~ She went on to say that if ~~they are~~ a couple is/are in ~~maritable~~ marital trouble, the only realistic measure they could take ~~it is~~ would be to live with whatever personality ~~fault~~ faults or defects their partner might have.

There are many approaches to tense in narratives. Sticking to simple past is a good bet until you feel adventurous enough to try something fancy.

(You need the "would be" because the "if" makes the sentence conditional.)

Clive · Answer

Hi,
please correct this. To paraphrase what someone has said, should I make all my tenses reflect the past time frames?

I heard Jane Doe speaking about a suject that was dear to me: finding solutions to martial problems. She spoke clearly and made some excellent points that rang true to me and made me think more deeply about the subject at hand. She said it would be hard for any husband or wife to try to change their partner's behavior. She said that it would be almost impossible to succeed in their attempt would be no use trying and went onto say that if they are in maritable trouble, the only realistic measure they could take it is to live with whatever personality fault or defects their partner might have.

When you are asked to paraphrase, it does not simply mean that you should place their words into reported speech. I suppose you could, but that would not be my first reaction.
'To paraphrase' simply means 'to reword, to say something using different words'.

Let's assume that part of what Jane Doe said was this.
"I am going to talk about finding solutions to marital problems. It is hard for any husband or wife to change their partner's behaviour".
I might paraphrase this as follows.
"I will discuss how to resolve difficulties in marriages. It is not easy for one spouse to alter the other spouse's habits."

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you. Like you have said, I think the good bet is to stick with past tenses until I feel adventurous.

I think what I have done is I have made it into reported speech somewhat accidently.

Your correction:

~~and went onto~~ She went on to say that if ~~they are~~ a couple is/are in ~~maritable~~ marital trouble, the only realistic measure they could take ~~it is~~ would be to live with whatever personality ~~fault~~ faults or defects their partner might have.

Should I have back-shift the tenses here? I started with a past tense, trying to make reported speech, but I am not sure what tense I have to use next.

I think to make it reported speech, I should have done this:

She went on to say that if a couple were in marital trouble, the only realistic measure they could take would be to live with whatever personality faults or defects their partner might have.

Avangi · Answer

Probably best to wait for an ESL person on this, but my instinct is that present tense is fine here because it's describing a hypothetical situation, not something which happened at a particular time in history.

Aha! I see what you mean. I messed up on the "could." are in trouble - - - can take OR were in trouble - - - - could take

I think either pair will work. Actually I may not have been so far off. I believe "could" can work in the present in a different sense. I don't recall how I was thinking of it. "What can I do?" (reply) "You could punt."

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