Use of Past Perfect in Reported Speech
Dear all,
I recently saw this on a British Council Learn English website:
Direct speech: “I was walking down the road when I saw the accident.” Reported speech: He told me he’d been walking down the road when he’d seen the accident.
Another example:
Direct speech: “They had already eaten when I arrived” Reported speech: He said they’d already eaten when he’d arrived.
(Link: https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/intermediate-grammar/reported-speech-1)
A question regarding the parts in underline.
Am I the only who finds it strange (and a bit funny on the ears) that they opted to use the past perfect after the word "when", especially since there would have been no ambiguity in using the simple past? ("He told me he'd been walking down the road when he saw the accident.")
Would using the simple past in the underlined parts be considered wrong?
Any comments would be welcome. Thanks!
Top answer
prolix Would using the simple past in the underlined parts be considered wrong? No, but the more common instinct would be to backshift. These are all OK.
- prolix Would using the simple past in the underlined parts be considered wrong?
- No, but the more common instinct would be to backshift.
- These are all OK.
- The order is my own inclinations.
- He told me he’ d been walking down the road when he saw the accident .
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prolixWould using the simple past in the underlined parts be considered wrong?
No, but the more common instinct would be to backshift. These are all OK. The order is my own inclinations.
He told me he’d been walking down the road when he saw the accident.
He told me he was walking down the road when saw the acc
0prolixWould using the simple past in the underlined parts be considered wrong?
I think their way is wrong. I find that puzzling. Maybe it's a British thing. The simple past is required to my ear because you have already set the stage in the past with "he'd been walking", and the additional past continuous tries to force an additional step back, which is not
0
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