Timur Zhukov
Reported speech: "say" and "tell" in Past Perfect Hello everyone! I know that the reported speech in English, when "say" and "tell" are in Past Simple, makes the verb in the sentence that was said by somebody be in "paster" form. That is: I said: "There is much fog in London." I said that there was much fog in London. Right? But! Look at this example. I arrived in London on Saturday. I had been told that there ["was" or "had been"?] much fog in London. Do we need to make the verb "paster than past" if we have Past Perfect in the main clause? Thank you very much in advance!
12 de jul. de 2015 7:33
Respuestas · 2
1
No, we simply shift the verbs to the past if possible. If there's past perfect in the original quotation, then it doesn't (ie. cannot) change. Other things that don't change are the modals should, would, could and might. Really, there's nowhere for them to go.
12 de julio de 2015
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