[Grammar] he sun HAD BEEN shining when she LEFT

[Oceanlike]

I attempted a question on Synthesis and Transformation (Direct to Reported Speech), and I was stumped!


Cindy said, "The sun was shining when I left."
Cindy said that the sun HAD BEEN shining when she LEFT.


I changed 'was' to 'had been'; how about 'left'?
Do I need to change the tense 'left' in the direct speech to 'had left' in the reported speech? It sounds weird to me. I'm unsure if I should change the tense of 'left'.
(I thought that all tenses have to be changed when transforming a direct speech (with a reporting verb in past tense) into a reported speech)

Thank you for teaching me :-D

 

[Oceanlike]

I agree with you, Piscean! Sometimes, I feel that questions are not well-crafted and lead to awkward answers or ambiguities. At times, I find that even school teachers have conflicting answers Arrgghhh English!

 

[Tdol]

You don't need to use the past perfect, but you can.

 

[Matthew Wai]

Do you mean both 'had been' and 'had left'?

 

[Raymott]

Do you mean both 'had been' and 'had left'?

I would very much doubt it. 'Had left' is not in discussion, and would be wrong.

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. Cindy said that she had left not long ago.
2. Cindy said that the sun had been shining when she left.

Why can 'had left' be used in 1 but not in 2?
I think 'had left' is also in discussion because the OP asked about it below.

Do I need to change the tense 'left' in the direct speech to 'had left' in the reported speech?

 

[Matthew Wai]

1. Cindy said that the sun was shining when she left.
2. Cindy said that the sun would be sinking when she left.
The contexts have made it clear that 'she left' happened before 'Cindy said' in 1 and after it in 2.
Am I right or wrong?

 

[Matthew Wai]

I don't see what this has to do with the original question.

The original question is about whether 'had left' should be used, and I think my post#9 goes to show that it should not be used because of the context, but I am not a teacher.