1

All sentences are mine:
(1) If it rains tomorrow, he will not go to the beach.

If "tomorrow" remains after backshift, it means tomorrow has not yet come, so backshift is optional. That is:

we may backshift (1):
(2) He said that if it rained tomorrow, he would not go to the beach. – correct

we may not backshift (1):
(3) He said that if it rains tomorrow, he will not go to the beach. – correct

but we can't backshift only one clause as in the following two sentences:
(4) He said that if it rained tomorrow, he will not go to the beach. – incorrect
(5) He said that if it rains tomorrow, he would not go to the beach. – incorrect

"The next day" shows us that tomorrow already passed, so we must simultaneously backshift both "rains" and "will". That is, of the following four sentences, only (9) is correct:
(6) He said that if it rains the next day, he will not go to the beach. – incorrect
(7) He said that if it rains the next day, he would not go to the beach. – incorrect
(8) He said that if it rained the next day, he will not go to the beach. – incorrect
(9) He said that if it rained the next day, he would not go to the beach. – correct

Tell me please where I'm right and where I'm wrong and why?

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  • 2
    You're 100% right. This list is more comprehensive than most answers to questions about backshifting.
    – gotube ♦
    Dec 23, 2022 at 2:14
  • Personally, this boils down to editing. You always post a bunch of questions and expect us to correct them or comment on them. It's too much, as far as I'm concerned. We don't do correction of mistakes here. 5) is correct by the way.
    – Lambie
    Dec 27, 2022 at 18:51

1 Answer 1

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Everything you said is correct.

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  • This should be a comment as it is too short to be an answer.
    – Astralbee
    Dec 27, 2022 at 18:53
  • 1
    That's absurd. The answer to the question of "Is Water H2O?" is yes. That's a perfectly fine answer. It affirms the condition asked about. We all know what the condition amounts to, at least in some measure. Perhaps we should delve scholastically into the properties of the individual protons, neutrons, and electrons? How do these properties relate in their constitutive atoms? Indeed, why not discourse on the nature of spin, energy, and charge? We can solve all the problems of physics right now in answering the question of whether water is H2O for the mere sake of adding words to an answer!
    – Pound Hash
    Dec 27, 2022 at 19:08
  • You seem to have dived straight into answering questions without reading the site rules. Questions that are essentially proofreading are off-topic and will ultimately be flagged for deletion. Any question to which you can answer "yes that's correct" is therefore off-topic. Also, answers which are as short as yours are automatically flagged by the system as "low quality" and recommended for deletion.
    – Astralbee
    Dec 27, 2022 at 22:24

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