present perfect or past tense/I said it before you

[navi tasan]

Are both of these sentences correct and if they are is there a difference in their meanings:

1) I said that this virus will create a huge mess before you did.
2) I have said that this virus will create a huge mess before you did.

I think '2' is incorrect.

Gratefully,
Navi

 

[emsr2d2]

Are both of these sentences correct and, if they are, is there any difference in [STRIKE]their[/STRIKE] meaning? [STRIKE]s:[/STRIKE]

1) I said that this virus [STRIKE]will[/STRIKE] would create a huge mess before you did.
2) I have said that this virus will create a huge mess before you did.

I think [STRIKE]'2'[/STRIKE] #2/sentence 2 is incorrect. (Quotation marks around the number are wrong.)

[STRIKE]Gratefully,[/STRIKE] Unnecessary.
[STRIKE]Navi[/STRIKE] Unnecessary.

Please note my corrections above.

You are right that sentence 2 is incorrect.

 

[jutfrank]

It's better without that.

I said this virus would create a huge mess before you did.

 

[emsr2d2]

Did you notice that both jutfrank and I changed "will" to "would"? When we change direct speech that includes "will" into reported speech, we change "will" to "would".

I said "This virus will cause a huge mess" before you did. (Direct speech)
I said [that] this virus would cause a huge mess before you did. (Indirect (reported) speech.)

 

[jutfrank]

Leaving aside any issues about backshifting will to would, and whether to include that, your question appears to be about tense. If we replace the that-clause with it, it might be a bit easier to see the answer:

1) I said it before you did.
2) I have said it before you did.

Can you see better now how sentence 2 is not correct? Both verbs should be in the same tense.

 

[navi tasan]

Thank you both very much,

Yes, I noticed that. I had forgotten to 'backshift' for some reason. I was concentrating so much on the other problem that I used indirect speech the way direct speech is used. My apologies.