How can I change these sentences to direct speech?
He told me he had seen Charlie the day before.
He said you wanted to have lunch with him the following day.
-
1The most likely versions are probably He said "I saw Charlie yesterday" and He said "Axia wants to have lunch with me tomorrow". But there's quite a lot of potential ambiguity involved - your first example could be a perfectly valid way of converting something like The day before, he said "I have seen Charlie" to direct speech. The second case is even more ambiguous (we don't know whether him refers to the speaker or to some other third party, as well as not knowing whether the following day refers to time of lunching or speaking).– FumbleFingersCommented Oct 14, 2015 at 15:12
-
He said, "I saw Charlie yesterday". He said to you, " You want to have lunch with me tomorrow".– KhanCommented Oct 15, 2015 at 16:25
Add a comment
|
1 Answer
He said, "I saw Charlie yesterday".
He said, "He/She wants to have lunch with me tomorrow".
He/she refers to the participant who gets it told. The day before turns to yesterday, and the following day turns to tomorrow. Tenses are shifted one step towards future tense because of past tense in he said.
