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Please do not send them until the other records from the series have come out.

if I want to put this sentence in reported speech

I told you not send them until the other records from the series have come out or had come out

In case the other records at the time of speaking have not come out, I think I am not obliged to backshift because the situation is still the same (the other records are not out)

2 Answers 2

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It is certainly usual to back-shift, but there are exceptions.

The best-known exceptions are for timeless or eternal descriptions:

The Greeks knew that the Earth is/was round.

Both forms are possible here.

In your example, had is much more likely, but to my ear have is possible, but puts quite a strong emphasis on the fact that the records still have not come out: it suggests that you are annoyed or impatient that they haven't come out; or perhaps the other person obeyed you at the time, but has since sent them. I wouldn't expect have if it was not significant that they still haven't come out.

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If you are quoting direct speech, you would say:

I told you, "Don't send them until the other records from the series have come out".

If you are making a full sentence without directly quoting what was said, you would say:

I told you not to send them until the other records from the series had come out.

It is an oddity of English that when you repeat information from the past, you change the tenses from present to past. It doesn't matter what the situation is now, only what it was before.

Simple present becomes simple past:

I am eating. I said I was eating.

Present perfect becomes past perfect:

I haven't finished. I said I hadn't finished.

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  • This answer is repeating what the questioner made clear that they already knew. The only part of it which is answering the question is " It doesn't matter what the situation is now, only what it was before", but I don't believe that this is alwys true.
    – Colin Fine
    Commented Dec 29, 2019 at 13:19

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