There is cue card section in IELTS where the test-taker has to speak at length about any given topic. While talking about future in past events I am confused what we have to say:
I told him that I am going to send the money very soon.
I told him that I was going to send the money very soon.
It's not in writing so I am asking just about speaking.
This situation happens with words like : said, told, informed etcetera.
If you are asking if those sentences are correct, yes they are, and they often have the same meaning. I know that can be confusing with the exchange between "am" and "was."
Though they can mean the same thing, here is a time when they do not:
"I told him that I am going to send the money very soon," always means that the action of sending the money is still in the future.
"I told him that I was going to send the money very soon," can mean you are going to send it in the future, you have already now sent it, or that you can no longer send it because something has changed.
Examples:
"I told him that I was going to send the money very soon, and I will send it as soon as I get my paycheck."
"I told him that I was going to send the money very soon, and then I sent it later that day."
"I told him that I was going to send the money very soon, but then I was robbed and now I can not."
If you were saying this last one out loud, you would show the difference by an emphasis on the first was.
If you're Asking whether all those examples are correct no, they're not.
'I told him that I am going to send the money very soon' wrongly mixes both direct and indirect speech and past and present tenses. Neither could ever be acceptable.
'I told him (that) I was going to send the money (very) soon' is fine.
'I am going to…' cannot work in that context.
Please never again ask 'just about speaking'. Speech far too often slips straight off the tongue with very little thought… which necessarily means it's not really susceptible to grammatical or even semantical analysis…
