English Language Learners Stack Exchange is a question and answer site for speakers of other languages learning English. It only takes a minute to sign up.
Sign up to join this community
Yesterday I saw a girl when I was parking my car. She was crying. She explained to me while her boyfriend was driving her home, they had had a terrible argument.Her boyfriend had stopped the car and had forced her out of it.
Is past perfect used had had because it is reported speech: I think so, direct speech would be "While my boyfriend was driving me home, we had a terrible argument" Is it necessary in that case ?
Though without the use of "that" the sense can well be imagined, we are very much inclined to retaining the same as the question is about narration change and that too with back shifting.
Barring exceptional exceptions, if the reporting speech is in past tense, the reported speech should be in the "corresponding past tense" of the tense used in direct speech.
Let us scrutinize the direct speech. It could be seen that except 'driving of the car' every thing else is shifted back. Alright. We would distance the "driving" farther by using Past Perfect Continuous Tense( had been driving)
"To have" can function as both principal and auxiliary verb. Not only in indirct speech but also in any demanding situation HAS HAD, HAVE HAD or HAD HAD is used all the white. We can still find in our mind's eye the milkmaid of Dr. Edward Jenner's description moving fearlessly among small pox patients because she HAD HAD Cow pox.
So all we can suggest is to put 'that', first , change ' was' to 'had been' next and retaining ' had had' last. The text is now perfectly balanced.
As regards use of "while", in whatever way we look at it — as a temporal preposition with time related complement clause or a conventional time subordinator(conjunction)for simultaneous activity/ reference to background to the focus-activity in the main clause, there is not much of a difference. We are to use past perfect in both as stated ealier.
Right, okay ... I don't know from "backshifting" or "downshifting," but how about this:
I saw this girl when I was parking my car last night. She was crying. She explained she had a terrible fight with her boyfriend while he was giving her a ride home earlier, which ended in his pulling over and forcing her out of the car.
The presence of the time markers ("while [...] earlier") renders the use of the past perfect unnecessary (in accordance with the prophecy) but not altogether superfluous either. You could still use it. There's gotta be an official term for a time marker, but I am not familiar with it.
It's still too wordy and awkward, even with the cosmetic changes I've introduced to it, and even if you replace "while" with "when" or "as." It needs to be rewritten - simplified. How about this:
As it turned out, her boyfriend was giving her a ride home earlier, and they had a terrible fight. He then pulled over and demanded in an icy tone that she leave his vehicle at once. She had no choice but to comply.
The time marker, "earlier," works beautifully here, doesn't it? Happy hunting.
