Collins Cobuild English Grammar (141 page)

past tense for both verbs

7.50
    If you are reporting something that was said or believed in the past, or if you want to distance yourself from what the other person said, you usually use a past tense for both the reporting verb and the verb in the reported clause.

She
said
you
threw
away her sweets.
Brody
asked
what
happened
.
In the Middle Ages, people
thought
the world
was
flat.

reporting verb in other tenses

7.51
    If you are reporting something that someone says or believes at the time that you are speaking, you use a present tense of the reporting verb.

A third of adults
say
that work is bad for your health.
I
think
it’s going to rain.

However, you can also use a present tense of the reporting verb when you are reporting something said in the past, especially if you are reporting something that someone often says or that is still true.

She
says
she wants to see you this afternoon.
My doctor
says
it’s nothing to worry about.

If you are predicting what people will say or think, you use a future form of the reporting verb.

No doubt he
will claim
that his car broke down.
They
will think
we are making a fuss.

tense of verb in reported clause

7.52
    Whatever the tense of your reporting verb, you put the verb in the reported clause into a tense that is appropriate at the time that you are speaking.

If the event or situation described in the reported clause is in the past at the time that you are speaking, you generally use the past simple, the past progressive, or the present perfect:
She said she enjoyed the course
,
She said she was enjoying the course
, or
She said she has enjoyed the course
. See
Chapter 4
for information on when to use these forms.

Dad explained that he
had
no money.
She added that she
was working
too much.
He says he
has
never
seen
a live shark in his life.

When the reporting verb is in a past tense, a past tense is also usually used for the verb in the reported clause even if the reported situation still exists. For example, you could say
I told him I was eighteen
even if you are still eighteen. You are concentrating on the situation at the past time that you are talking about.

He said he
was
English.

A present form is sometimes used instead, to emphasize that the situation still exists.

I told him that I
don’t eat
more than anyone else.

If the event or situation was in the past at the time that the reported statement was made, or had existed up to that time, you use the past perfect:
She said she had enjoyed the course
.

He knew he
had behaved
badly.
Mr Benn said that he
had been
in hospital at the time.

If the event or situation is still going on, you use a present form if you are using a present form of the reporting verb:
She says she’s enjoying the course
.

Don’t assume l’
m
a complete fool.
He knows he’
s being watched
.

If the event or situation was in the future at the time of the statement or is still in the future, you use a modal. See paragraphs
7.53
to
7.56
, below.

modals in reported clauses

7.53
    The basic rules for using modals in reported clauses are as follows.

If the verb in the reporting clause is in a past form or has
could
or
would
as an auxiliary, you usually use
could
,
might
, or
would
in the reported clause.

If, as is less common, the verb in the reporting clause is in the present or has
can
or
will
as an auxiliary, you usually use
can
,
may
, or
will
in the reported clause.

USAGE NOTE

7.54
    When you want to report a statement or question about someone’s ability to do something, you normally use
could
.

They believed that war
could
be avoided.
Nell would not admit that she
could
not cope.

If you want to report a statement about possibility, you normally use
might
.

They told me it
might
flood here.
He said you
might
need money.

If the possibility is a strong one, you use
must
.

I told her she
must
be out of her mind.

When you want to report a statement giving permission or a request for permission, you normally use
could
.
Might
is used in more formal English.

I told him he
couldn’t
have it.
Madeleine asked if she
might
borrow a pen and some paper.

When you want to report a prediction, promise, or expectation, or a question about the future, you normally use
would
.

She said they
would
all miss us.
He insisted that reforms
would
save the system, not destroy it.

7.55
    If the reported event or situation still exists or is still in the future, and you are using a present tense of the reporting verb, you use
can
instead of
could
,
may
instead of
might
, and
will
or
shall
instead of
would
.

Helen says I
can
share her apartment.
I think the weather
may
change soon.
I don’t believe he
will
come.

Note that you cannot use
can have
instead of
could have
, or
will have
instead of
would have
. You cannot use
may have
instead of
might have
if you are using it like
could have
to talk about something that did not happen.

You can also use
can
,
may
,
will
, and
shall
when you are using a past tense of the reporting verb, if you want to emphasize that the situation still exists or is still in the future.

He claimed that the child’s early experiences
may
cause psychological distress in later life.

If you are using a present reporting verb and want to indicate that the reported event or situation is hypothetical or very unlikely, you can use the modals
could
,
might
, or
would
.

I believe that I
could
live very comfortably here.

7.56
    When you want to report a statement about obligation, it is possible to use
must
, but the expression
had to
(see paragraph
5.242
) is more common.

He said he really
had to
go back inside.
Sita told him that he
must
be especially kind to the little girl.

You use
have to
,
has to
, or
must
if the reported situation still exists or is in the future.

When you want to report a statement prohibiting something, you normally use
mustn’t
.

He said they
mustn’t
get us into trouble.

When you want to report a strong recommendation, you can use
ought to
. You can also use
should
.

He knew he
ought to
be helping Harold.
I felt I
should
consult my family.

7.57
    When you want to report a habitual past action or a past situation, you can use the semi-modal
used to
.

I wish I knew what his favourite dishes
used to
be.

7.58
    The use of
modals
in reported clauses can be compared with the ordinary use of modals (see paragraphs
5.92
to
5.256
). Many of the functions are similar, but some are rarely or never found in reported clauses.

reporting conditional statements

7.59
    When you are reporting a
conditional statement
, the tenses of the verbs are, in most cases, the same as they would be normally. However, they are different if you are using the past simple form of a reporting verb, and reporting a conditional statement such as
If there is no water in the radiator, the engine will overheat
. In this case, you can use the past simple instead of the present simple and
would
instead of
will
in the reported conditional statement:
She said that if there was no water in the radiator, the engine would overheat
.

For information about conditional statements, see paragraphs
8.25
to
8.42
.

Making your reference appropriate

7.60
    People, things, times, and places can be referred to in different ways, depending on who is speaking or on when or where they are speaking. For example, the same person can be referred to as
I
,
you
, or
she
, and the same place can be referred to as
over there
or
just here
.

If you use
reported speech
to report what someone has said, the words you use to refer to things must be appropriate in relation to yourself, the time when you are speaking, and the place in which you are speaking. The words you use may well be different from the words originally spoken, which were appropriate from the point of view of the speaker at the time.

referring to people and things

7.61
    For example, if a man is talking to someone about a woman called Jenny, and he says,
I saw her in the High Street
, there are several ways in which this statement can be reported. If the original speaker repeats what he said, he could say,
I said I saw her in the High Street
.
I
and
her
do not change, because they still refer to the same people.