[Grammar] 'must' in reported

[adrenalinman]

The associate professor said, ‘Students must have a student ID card to access the parts of the university’.
1-) Is it correct?:The associate professor said that students must/had to have a student ID card to access the parts of the university.
(Obligation in the past)

Our counselor said, ‘You must come to school earlier next week’.
2-) Is it correct?:Our counselor said we must/had to/would have to come to school earlier the following week.
(Obligation in the future)
My friend said, ‘Kate is at the bus stop now.She must be late for the school’.
3-) My friend said that Kate was at the bus stop then and that she must be late for the school.
(Deduction)

 

[Tarheel]

We should take the questions one at a time.

The first one can't possibly be right. The professor allegedly said, "Students must have a student ID card to access the parts of the university". What did the professor really say? Their IDs will be checked before they will be allowed to get into____________.

 

[Tarheel]

"You must come to school earlier next week" is perfectly fine.

 

[Tarheel]

I don't know how being at the bus stop makes you late for school.

 

[Tarheel]

You should do a better job of making yourself understood.

 

[jutfrank]

These examples seem too artificial to be of any real use.

Why would you use the following week in 2)? Don't you mean next week?

 

[andrewg927]

The associate professor said, ‘Students must have a student ID card to access the parts of the university’. (unless there is more context, I prefer "certain" or "some" in place of "the". Otherwise, the sentence is fine.)

The associate professor said that students must/had to have a student ID card to access the parts of the university.
(The sentence is fine because "said" is in the past, and "had to have" matches "said". Again I don't like "the".)

Our counselor said, ‘You must come to school earlier next week’. (if the student was late this week, I think it makes sense for this sentence.)

Our counselor said we must/had to come to school earlier the following week"(I prefer "next week" but I suppose "the following week" is okay. Don't use "would have to come" because it is wordy).

My friend said, ‘Kate is at the bus stop now. She must be late for the school’. (If the class is already in session and Kate is still at the bus stop then the sentence makes sense. Don't use "the", just "late for school".)

My friend said that Kate was at the bus stop and that she was late for the school. (Better like this).

 

[GoesStation]

My friend said, ‘Kate is at the bus stop now. She must be late for the school’. (If the class is already in session and Kate is still at the bus stop then the sentence makes sense. Don't use "the", just "late for school".)

My friend said that Kate was at the bus stop and that she was late for the school. (Better like this).

I'd write ...and that she must be late for school. If you replace must be with "was", you lose the sense of insistence present in the original sentence.

 

[andrewg927]

I'd write ...and that she must be late for school. If you replace must be with "was", you lose the sense of insistence present in the original sentence.

I was debating about that but I just felt like it makes more sense to use "was" because the entire was in the past, like already happened but I see your point. Adrenalinman, I just want to let you know that we are not disagreeing, we just have slightly different points of view. You can choose whichever works/makes the most sense to you.

 

[Tarheel]

You could say:

Students need a student ID card anywhere in the university.