Timeline for Reported speech changes the meaning?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
17 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Aug 5 at 18:23 | comment | added | Lambie | This question is similar to: Backshifting in reported speech - "I wanted to let you know that he HAS/HAD sent you the letter". If you believe it’s different, please edit the question, make it clear how it’s different and/or how the answers on that question are not helpful for your problem. | |
| Aug 4 at 7:33 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | You do know Joe is usually a male name? So why 'she arrived'? | |
| Aug 3 at 14:45 | comment | added | James Mathai | @user203412 Your basic assumption is incorrect. In the original statement doing happens after her arrival and in reported speech it happes before. ""when" doesn't imply whether it is before or after. "He did it when she arrived" You have to use before or after in place of "when" or use past perfect tense for the earlier action. | |
| Aug 3 at 9:27 | vote | accept | user203412 | ||
| Aug 3 at 9:26 | comment | added | user203412 | I have improved my mistakes | |
| Aug 3 at 9:22 | history | edited | user203412 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 5 characters in body
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| Aug 3 at 4:38 | comment | added | James Mathai | @ishtar I think OP meant we have to use an action verb in place of "did". Eg. "He cooked when she arrived.' | |
| Aug 2 at 22:49 | answer | added | Peter Kirkpatrick | timeline score: 3 | |
| Aug 2 at 22:21 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | @MichaelHarvey: True, but speculation on the intended meaning is pointless. If the OP can't or won't give a more meaningful context, so we know what's actually being spoken about, it should be closed on the grounds it "Needs details or clarity". user203412 - that means if you don't explain exactly what "He did when she arrived" is supposed to mean, the question will probably be closed rather than answered. | |
| Aug 2 at 19:59 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | @FumbleFingers - but the point I made in my first comment remains. If the direct speech is accurate, who is 'he'? It can't be 'Tom', surely? | |
| Aug 2 at 19:41 | review | Close votes | |||
| Aug 31 at 3:11 | |||||
| Aug 2 at 19:40 | comment | added | ishtar | I presume there's a missing "it" in the first sentence: "He did (it) when she arrived". | |
| Aug 2 at 19:27 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | But even with that contrived context, He did when she arrived implies he started doing it after she arrived, but Tom said he had done it when she arrived implies that he had already finished doing it by the time she arrived. To maintain temporal consistency, Tom said he did it when she arrived (or ...after she arrived). | |
| Aug 2 at 19:24 | comment | added | FumbleFingers | "He did when she arrived" requires a very unusual context to make sense. In an ongoing conversation, someone has just asserted that "he" didn't do something (contextually identified) before she arrived, and "He did [do it] when she arrived" requires stress on did when someone else counters that assertion. | |
| Aug 2 at 19:20 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | Note that the 'direct speech' does not make any sense. | |
| Aug 2 at 19:14 | comment | added | Michael Harvey | Are "He did when she arrived" the exact words spoken by someone called Tom? | |
| Aug 2 at 19:03 | history | asked | user203412 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |