[Grammar] I decided that!

[Kanojo]

Hello Kind readers.

I am a teacher of English as a Second Language.

I'm generally quite good with Grammar questions that Students might present to me, however recently I was presented with a sentence witch I know is wrong, but I'm really struggling to explain why? I would Happily look up the answer If I knew what rule of English I was looking for. Knowing my luck It's probably something in the basics of English and I'm going to feel stupid, but I must know as my student expects me to be able to tell him ....

OK OK here is the question?

Student wrote: I decided that I "wouldn't" drink alcohol until the 10th of December.

Teacher corrected: I decided that I "wont" drink alcohol until the 10 of December.

The student is convinced that because she used "that" in her sentance she has to change to the past tense for the subordinate Condition.

As previously stated I'm looking for the English rule that I'm so desperately missing. Or maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the sentence?


All and any help is greatly appreciated and if you need any further information please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you all very much for your consideration and attention.

 

[emsr2d2]

Hello kind readers.

I am a teacher of English as a Second Language.

I'm generally quite good with grammar questions that students might present to me, however recently I was presented with a sentence [strike]witch[/strike] which I know is wrong, but I'm really struggling to explain why. I would happily look up the answer if I knew what rule of English I was looking for. Knowing my luck it's probably something in the basics of English and I'm going to feel stupid, but I must know as my student expects me to be able to tell him.

[strike]OK[/strike] OK, here is the question.

Student wrote: I decided that I "wouldn't" drink alcohol until the 10th of December.

Teacher corrected: I decided that I "wont" drink alcohol until the 10 of December.

The student is convinced that because she used "that" in her sentence, she has to change to the past tense for the subordinate condition.

As previously stated, I'm looking for the English rule that I'm so desperately missing. Or maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the sentence.


All and any help is greatly appreciated and if you need any further information please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you all very much for your consideration and attention.

Firstly, please note my amendments to your post. You have chosen some very strange words to incorrectly capitalise. We don't capitalise adjectives, prepositions or adverbs and there was no reason to capitalise "grammar" or "student".

I assume that you are the teacher who corrected this student's sentence.

There was nothing wrong with his original sentence. "I decided I wouldn't drink until the 10th of December" is absolutely fine.

 

[5jj]

Welcome to the forum, Kanojo. :hi:

It has nothing to to with 'that'.

In reported speech, it is always correct to backshift, so 'wouldn't' is correct.
It is not essential to backshift if the situation reported still holds true at the moment of reporting, so 'won't' is also possible.

As a teacher, you need to watch out for run-on sentences, unnecessary capitalisation, and your spelling of the relative pronoun 'which'.

 

[bhaisahab]

Hello Kind readers.

I am a teacher of English as a Second Language.

I'm generally quite good with Grammar questions that Students might present to me, however recently I was presented with a sentence witch I know is wrong, but I'm really struggling to explain why? I would Happily look up the answer If I knew what rule of English I was looking for. Knowing my luck It's probably something in the basics of English and I'm going to feel stupid, but I must know as my student expects me to be able to tell him ....

OK OK here is the question?

Student wrote: I decided that I "wouldn't" drink alcohol until the 10th of December.

Teacher corrected: I decided that I "wont" drink alcohol until the 10 of December.

The student is convinced that because she used "that" in her sentance she has to change to the past tense for the subordinate Condition.

As previously stated I'm looking for the English rule that I'm so desperately missing. Or maybe there is something fundamentally wrong with the sentence?


All and any help is greatly appreciated and if you need any further information please don't hesitate to ask. Thank you all very much for your consideration and attention.

I can't see anything wrong with the student's sentence. The teacher's sentence would be more natural with the present perfect "I have decided that I won't..."

 

[emsr2d2]

We could avoid the entire issue by saying "I decided not to drink until the 10th of December". ;-)

 

[Kanojo]

Thank you all for your invaluable input. I have been educated. I not only have the answers I need, but I also have been warmly welcomed to this community. My only wish is that I can help somebody here in the way you all helped me.

With regards to my capitalisation I think I have a very bad habit of capitalising anything I emphasise in thought. I will endeavour to fix this for my sake. Writing on this forum could prove to be a good way to bush up my-own mistakes. Thank you!

As for witch instead of which! Hmm!

 

[emsr2d2]

Thank you all for your invaluable input. I have been educated. I not only have the answers I need, but I also have been warmly welcomed to this community. My only wish is that I can help somebody here in the way you all helped me.

With regards to my capitalisation I think I have a very bad habit of capitalising anything I emphasise in thought. I will endeavour to fix this for my sake. Writing on this forum could prove to be a good way to brush up on my written English. [strike]my-own mistakes.[/strike] Thank you!

As for witch instead of which! Hmm!

We are happy to help when we can. Note my amendments to your post above. The verb is "to brush up on" (not "bush") and you really don't want to brush up on your mistakes! If you did that, you would be practising your mistakes! You want to brush up on your written English or try to eliminate your mistakes. Note that there was no need for a hyphen in "my own".