Indirect Speech

[Tdol]

Which sounds more natural? Is there a difference?

 

[RonBee]

I voted for the first one, since it seemed to be more natural. On second thought I realized that would actually say the second one.

:?

 

[Will]

Perhaps it's just me, but seeing as how Jill said (i.e, past tense), then was is the obvious choice.

 

[RonBee]

Perhaps it's just me, but seeing as how Jill said (i.e, past tense), then was is the obvious choice.

Surely, what she said was, "My name is Jill." She isn't likely to have said, "My name was Jill."

 

[Tdol]

It depends, IMO. I'd use the present happily if I were sure of her name and the past if less so. ;-)

 

[dduck]

Surely, what she said was, "My name is Jill." She isn't likely to have said, "My name was Jill."

Indeed, what Jill said was "My name is Jill". This is called Quoted Speech.

Another way to tell what someone said is Reported Speech. In this case, "she said her name was Jill". If the statement is put into Reported Speech it's necessary to put the reporting verb, "to say", and the verb in the reported statement, "to be", into the past tense.

Iain

 

[Tdol]

Not always- if the statement is a fact or holds true for the future, we often don't backshift:

He said Paris is\was the capital of France.

IMO, it makes more sense to say 'is' as this still is the case. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

What tdol said.

:wink:

 

[Will]

I'm going to have to go with dduck here.

 

[dduck]

I'm going to have to go with dduck here.

What I wrote is the general scheme of RS. Tdol's comment about the exception to this rule when the 'fact' is still true is also important.

So we could say "She said her name is Jill".

However, I'm wondering if, in this case, it's isn't more natural and commonplace to say "She said her name was Jill". For me, if Jill was in the room I might use 'is Jill', however, if Jill was absent, I'd probably use 'was Jill'. The act of her saying her name being FIRMLY in the past.

Iain

 

[Tdol]

The time of the rewporting is very important with the name example- it makes much more sense if the person is still present and you're sure to keep it in the present. If reporting a few days later, for instance, the past might make sense. It depends on how you feel about the speech act you are reporting, IMO. The best thing is to be flexible and change tenses for a reason, rather than do it on autopilot. ;-)

 

[RonBee]

Which is better?

• He said the world is round and it revolves around the sun.

Or:

• He said the world was round and it revolved around the sun.

The statement was made in the past, but does that mean the rest of the verbs (in addition to said) have to be in the past tense?

 

[RonBee]

• She said her name was Jill before she changed it.

Hm.

:wink:

 

[Tdol]

Which is better?

• He said the world is round and it revolves around the sun.

Or:

• He said the world was round and it revolved around the sun.

The statement was made in the past, but does that mean the rest of the verbs (in addition to said) have to be in the past tense?

The present. ;-)

 

[Will]

He said the world is round and it revolves around the sun.

Weird sounding, therefore, IMHO, incorrect.

He said the world was round and it revolved around the sun.

Correct.

It's not that hard to see.

 

[RonBee]

Is the world not round anymore?

:wink:

 

[RonBee]

The belief that all the words in a sentence should be the same tense is a mistaken one.

8)

 

[RonBee]

The sense of the sentence should always be the most important consideration.

That is my opinion.

 

[Tdol]

I agree- reporting should be meaning-driven as that is its purpose and to change for no reason seems rash. How about this:

He said Queen Victoria reaigned in the nineteenth century.

Without any more context, I can see no reason to move the past tense back to the past perfect.

He said that Queen Victoria had been on the throne for thirty years when...

Now, I can see a reason to change as the verb has to fit in and work with others aroung it. I would say that the past perfect in the first example would be plain wrong. ;-)

 

[Junaa]

Reported Speech

In th sentences;

he said that the world is round.

Th verb in this sentence doesn't change tense couse of that rule in the English grammer that, when we are talking about a general truth or a universal truth we do not change tense, so in this case the tense will remain the same.