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!
2015年7月12日 07:33
回答 · 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.
2015年7月12日
まだあなたの答えが見つかりませんか?
質問を書き留めて、ネイティブスピーカーに手伝ってもらいましょう!
Timur Zhukov
言語スキル
中国語 (普通話), 英語, フランス語, イタリア語, 日本語, 韓国語, ロシア語, スペイン語
言語学習
中国語 (普通話), 英語, フランス語, イタリア語, 日本語, 韓国語, スペイン語