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Tenacious Learner Posted 15 years ago
Grammar

Text and questions doubts

Hi teachers,

I have this text.

Arthur and Deborah are at the opera again. The curtain is going to rise and the opera is going to begin in a few seconds. The woman in front is wearing a hat. "I hope that woman is going to take off her hat!" Deborah is saying loudly. "We aren't going to see very much if she keeps it on!"

The whole situation has already happened or is still happening?
Acording to the text it is happening right now, but the tetx was written long time ago.

Then a question should be:

What does Deborah hope the woman in front is going to do and why?

OR

What did Deborah hope the woman in front of her was going to do and why?

But if I want to ask a question in Direct Speech it should be in the past, isn't it?

What did Deborah say loudly?
She said, "I hope that woman is going to take off her hat!"

Thanks in advance
  

Top answer

" It's a narrative style often found in novels. It describes something which happened in the past as though it were happening right now. If my friend is asking me about a movie I have recently seen, he can ask, What does Jennifer do in the movie?

— Avangi

  • " It's a narrative style often found in novels.
  • It describes something which happened in the past as though it were happening right now.
  • If my friend is asking me about a movie I have recently seen, he can ask, What does Jennifer do in the movie?
  • Or What did Jennifer do in the movie?
  • " If this is some kind of exam situation, you'd better wait for other opinions.
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3 Answers
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This is called "historical present." It's a narrative style often found in novels. It describes something which happened in the past as though it were happening right now.

If my friend is asking me about a movie I have recently seen, he can ask,
What does Jennifer do in the movie?
Or What did Jennifer do in the movie? .

Personally,
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AvangiThe ESL approach to direct/indirect speech is highly codified, and doesn't seem to have much to do with common sense.

Thank you very much for your comentary. It is quite a relief for me.
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AvangiPersonally, if I want to ask someone a question about a narrative that's written in present tense, I'll ask, "What does she say?" "What does she do?
This has really helped me a lot. Sometimes things are very easy to be understood. Your sentence 'written in present tense' has given me the clue. It is also quite logical to me that the question should be
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