She says, "I will join the party".

[Rollercoaster1]

She says, "I will join the party".
She says that she will join the party.

We don't change the tense in indirect speech if the reporting verb is in presnet indefinite tense or future indefinite tense. Is the indirect speech typed above correct?

 

[Tarheel]

Yes, it is. Definitely.

 

[Tarheel]

However, probably more usual is said.

Q: What did she say? Is she coming?.
A: Yes! She said she's coming.

It depends.

 

[jutfrank]

She says, "I will join the party".

This is very unlikely. In what context do you imagine somebody saying or writing this? How do you imagine that someone would then want to report it?

 

[Yankee]

This is very unlikely. In what context do you imagine somebody saying or writing this? How do you imagine that someone would then want to report it?

The speaker might be referring to a political party and not a social gathering. As usual, context and situation rule.

 

[jutfrank]

The speaker might be referring to a political party and not a social gathering. As usual, context and situation rule.

In post #4 I was referring only the direct speech version. It strikes me as very odd to preface the quoted speech with She says. Why would somebody do that? Even if I knew the speaker were referring to a political party, I would still have trouble thinking of a valid context for the direct speech version.

The indirect version I have no problem with, of course. I see now that I didn't make that clear in my post. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the OP has no context in mind for the direct speech version at all. Is that right, Rollercoaster1?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

In post #4 I was referring only the direct speech version. It strikes me as very odd to preface the quoted speech with She says. Why would somebody do that? Even if I knew the speaker were referring to a political party, I would still have trouble thinking of a valid context for the direct speech version.

The indirect version I have no problem with, of course. I see now that I didn't make that clear in my post. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the OP has no context in mind for the direct speech version at all. Is that right, Rollercoaster1?

Of course, you are right. I just wanted to clear the doubt I had as mentioned in my OP.

 

[Yankee]

In post #4 I was referring only the direct speech version. It strikes me as very odd to preface the quoted speech with She says. Why would somebody do that? Even if I knew the speaker were referring to a political party, I would still have trouble thinking of a valid context for the direct speech version.

The indirect version I have no problem with, of course. I see now that I didn't make that clear in my post. Sorry for any misunderstanding.

Unfortunately, I suspect that the OP has no context in mind for the direct speech version at all. Is that right, Rollercoaster1?

Found this in today's newspaper: ;-)

Today’s edition of the Daily Times contains an editorial on the upcoming election and Mary Poppins decision on whom she will support. She says she will join the party in support of Humpty Dumpty. Or to quote her directly, in her opening remarks she says, “I will join the party”.

 

[jutfrank]

Today’s edition of the Daily Times contains an editorial on the upcoming election and Mary Poppins decision on whom she will support. She says she will join the party in support of Humpty Dumpty. Or to quote her directly, in her opening remarks she says, “I will join the party”.

I couldn't agree more with you on the importance of context, Yankee. With enough imagination one can come up with context for pretty much anything.

I don't wish to be too argumentative here because I take your point, but I do still think that the present tense says in your direct speech example sounds odd. Why not use said?

 

[Rollercoaster1]

I couldn't agree more with you on the importance of context, Yankee. With enough imagination one can come up with context for pretty much anything.

I don't wish to be too argumentative here because I take your point, but I do still think that the present tense says in your direct speech example sounds odd. Why not use said?

We would then not say 'She said that she will join the party', but 'She said that she would join the part'. Using 'says' indicates that it's her present intention to join the party for the time being. Using 'said' would indicate that what she said was her decision which indicates or expresses certainty. I know you will come up with something new or unique, but that's my clarification.