[Grammar] Indirect speech

[pure_soul181]

hi. i need help. i don;t understand these:

1."How many people know the combination of the safe?"said the detective
The detective wanted to know how many people had known the combination of the safe.
(i know that present tense simple is transformed into past tense simple....so...it should be correct this: The detective wanted to know how many people knew the combination of the safe)i don;t understant why is "had known"and not "knew"

2."Why don't you take it to the bank and get it changed", said Joan.
Joan suggested taking it to the bank and getting it changed.

Please help me to understand the rules for these 2 exercices!
Thx a lot!!

 

[Raymott]

hi. i need help. i don;t understand these:

1."How many people know the combination of the safe?"said the detective
The detective wanted to know how many people had known the combination of the safe.
(i know that present tense simple is transformed into past tense simple....so...it should be correct this: The detective wanted to know how many people knew the combination of the safe)i don;t understant why is "had known"and not "knew"
Because the answer's wrong. It should be "knew". Note that this is not a direct translation, which would be "The detective asked how many people knew the combination of the safe."


2."Why don't you take it to the bank and get it changed", said Joan.
Joan suggested taking it to the bank and getting it changed.
Again, this is not a direct change from a direct to an indirect sentence, which would be something like, "Joan asked why I didn't take it to bank and get it changed."
They are both paraphrases - for which there are no easy rules. A paraphrasis in simply saying the same thing in a different way. There might be lots of ways of saying the same thing, but only one is a strict change from a direct to an indirect sentence.

Please help me to understand the rules for these 2 exercices!
Thx a lot!!

R.

 

[5jj]

1."How many people know the combination of the safe?"said the detective.
The detective wanted to know how many people had known the combination of the safe.
You are correct. This should be: The detective wanted to know how many people knew the combination of the safe.

2."Why don't you take it to the bank and get it changed", said Joan.
Joan suggested taking it to the bank and getting it changed.
The words #2 are a suggestion. This would not be clear if we rendered it in indirect speech as:
Joan asked us why we didn't take it to the bank and get it changed.

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