He says to him, "I will meet you tonight".

[Rollercoaster1]

He says to him that he will meet him tonight.

Is it correct to leave 'tonight' unchanged when changing the sentence from direct to into indirect speech, and when the reporting verb is 'present indefinite tense' as shown above in the title?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

He says to him that he will meet him tonight.

Is it correct to leave 'tonight' unchanged when changing the sentence from direct to into indirect speech, and when the reporting verb is 'present indefinite tense' as shown above in the title?

Yes, of course. There's nothing you could change tonight to. Would you change at seven o'clock or later or after dark? No. So don't change tonight.

 

[jutfrank]

Whether you change tonight depends on when you do the reporting. It would be rather confusing to use the word tonight to refer to an evening in the past, wouldn't it?

You could use that night.

 

[Rollercoaster1]

Whether you change tonight depends on when you do the reporting. It would be rather confusing to use the word tonight to refer to an evening in the past, wouldn't it?

You could use that night.

If the meeting has taken place or the night has gone, I would rather change the reporting verb as 'He said' than 'He says'.

 

[Tdol]

If the meeting has taken place or the night has gone, I would rather change the reporting verb as 'He said' than 'He says'.

We don't change the tense of the reporting verb for various reasons, so that does not make it clear about the time. I would use the present if reporting a phonecall I had just taken, but could use the past to report a conversation I had that afternoon.