Quote:
Originally Posted by Tdol  I don't see why the action has to have been done to qualify. I agree with your example being wrong, but with the backshifting examples, I can see a difference:
A It may rain today.
B (reporting the same day) He said it may rain today.
The next day
He said it might rain yesterday.
Are you suggesting that a report made the same day can keep the same modal, 'may' but the next day, a shift has to be made to 'might'?
Here, I see the possibility described as having finished.
Also, I personally don't subscribe to the definition of tense being used there, as I don't see tense as simply a temporal relationship, but within that restriction, I still see 'might' as describing a completed past possibility of rain. |
It's still only reported speech, Tdol and the reasons we shift remain the same.
The
possibility of rain cannot be finished. Only the actuality of rain or no rain can be finished. Telling someone what someone else said has nothing to do with the factuality of a situation.
With enough context, I can direct report weeks, months or even years later with; He said, "It may rain today".