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Laborious Posted 13 years ago
Grammar
Would and Reported speech
Hi dear teachers,
I'm going to put what I'm confused about in bold to help you grab my doubts easily.
1)
If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was.
(dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is? Or was? or both?
Would there be any specific reason to choose one and leave out the other?)
2)
Direct speech = I said to him, "If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was."
Reported = I told him that if he had been? or were? there, he would tell him what the truth (is? or was?).
3)
If you had gone to him, you'd have known what you wanted to (or had wanted to?)
4)
Direct speech = I said to Jack, "If you had gone to him, you'd have known what you wanted to know (or had wanted to know?)
Reported speech = I told Jack that if he had gone to him, he would have known what he wanted to know (or had wanted to know?)
Teachers, is there any other better way to report #4 ?
Thank you, teachers.
I'm going to put what I'm confused about in bold to help you grab my doubts easily.
1)
If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was.
(dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is? Or was? or both?
Would there be any specific reason to choose one and leave out the other?)
2)
Direct speech = I said to him, "If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was."
Reported = I told him that if he had been? or were? there, he would tell him what the truth (is? or was?).
3)
If you had gone to him, you'd have known what you wanted to (or had wanted to?)
4)
Direct speech = I said to Jack, "If you had gone to him, you'd have known what you wanted to know (or had wanted to know?)
Reported speech = I told Jack that if he had gone to him, he would have known what he wanted to know (or had wanted to know?)
Teachers, is there any other better way to report #4 ?
Thank you, teachers.
Top answer
1) If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was . (dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is? Or was?
- 1) If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was .
- (dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is?
- Or was?
- or both?
- g.
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3 Answers
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1) If he were here, he would tell you what the truth is/was.
(dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is? Or was? or both? Would there be any specific reason to choose one and leave out the other?)
Both are used; "is" feels more definite, e.g. that it is still the truth now, or maybe suggesting the speaker knows
(dear teachers, which option is correct in the above example - is? Or was? or both? Would there be any specific reason to choose one and leave out the other?)
Both are used; "is" feels more definite, e.g. that it is still the truth now, or maybe suggesting the speaker knows
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GPY3) If you had gone to him, you'd have known what you wanted to (or had wanted to?)
Sentence seems slighty confusing or ambiguous. Do you mean "If you had gone to him, you'd have found out what you wanted to know"?First of all, thank you very much for your time and reply.
And yes. I meant exactly what you wrote in your reply
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LaboriousAnd yes. I meant exactly what you wrote in your reply. So you mean that we can't say or use 'had wanted to know' in that sentence?It's possible: it's something someone might say in a conversation. However, written down out of context, something like my version seemed a bit easier to understand. But, sticking with your version, "had wanted", though st
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