My grammar confusion
Hi native English speakers! I know quite a lot of classical grammar rules. But real-life language sometimes seems to be against the rules and I get confused. So here is my first portion of “Why is that?!” questions on English grammar.
1. Why do you ask vs why are you asking? Which one is correct? <em>neither is incorrect - and I wouldn't make a big distinction</em>
2. Dad said that he will put up the new shelves in the kitchen tomorrow. (from English textbook)
Why not “Dad said that he would put up the new shelves in the kitchen the very next day”? <em>Why would you want to use three words when one is quite precise? Next day to what?</em>
3. Keith said that he can't put up with his boring job any longer. (from English textbook)
Why not “Keith said that he couldn’t put up with his boring job any longer.” '<em>Can't' is more or less quoting verbatim what he said; 'couldn't' is conveying the meaning of his words - he would say: 'I can't' but you may report 'couldn't'</em>
4. We put up our tent before it got too dark to see what we were doing.
Why not “We had put up …” because this action was before other actions and therefore must be Past Perfect? <em>Well you haven't shown any other actions - but if there are consequences 'had put' is correct. 'We had put up ... so we could sleep early' but 'We put up ... and then we slept early'</em>