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ESL forum >
Ask for help > Indirect speech
Indirect speech
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Holzauge
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Indirect speech
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Hi colleagues. How do we report the folowing question?
"did you eat out yesterday?"
1. My fellow wants to know
if we eat / ate out the day before.( which one is correct?)
2. My fellow wanted to know if we had eaten out the previous day.
Thanks for your help in advance.
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9 Mar 2010
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RabbitWho
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All of those things are right but some of them don �t go together...
I would report
"did you eat out yesterday?" as
"My friend wanted to know if I ate out yesterday." (If he asked me today.)
and
"My friend wanted to know if I had eaten out the previous day." (If he asked me any other day)
"Wants" can only be used if he still wants to know, but wanted could be used either way.
"John wants to know if you will eat out tonight?" John said: "Will you eat out tonight?"
"John wanted to know if you would eat out tonight?" John said: "Will you eat out tonight?"
There is no difference between these two sentences.
"John wants to know if you ate out yesterday?" John said today "Did you eat out yesterday?"
"John wanted to know if you ate out yesterday?" John said today "Did you eat out yesterday?"
Again, no difference.
"John wanted to know if you had eaten out the previous day" John said a day other than today "Did you eat out yesterday?"
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9 Mar 2010
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kons
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it depends on the introductory verb which you didn �t mention. the sentence can be introduced in two ways:
" did you eat out yesterday?" said my fellow
or
my fellow says" did you eat out yesterday?"
Hence, the first one is reported as follows:
My fellow wanted to know if we had eaten out the day before.
the second is as follows:
My fellow wants to know if we ate out yesterday.
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9 Mar 2010
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Holzauge
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Many thanks to both rabbitWho and kons but I still need things to be a bit clarified , especially when using the reporting verb in th esimple present tense. One of my pupils asks why use the simple past after the present simple reporting verb.
Thanks again.
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9 Mar 2010
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yanogator
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The person who is asking wants to know about something in the past, so the simple past is the only choice (unless the question is about an activity in the future).
As for your original question, it should be "John wants to know if we ate out yesterday."
There �s no reason to replace "yesterday", since John is wondering now, and the day before now is yesterday.
It �s the same in German, isn �t it?
Bruce |
9 Mar 2010
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mourad1O
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According to grammar books, when the reporting verb is in the present simple, we don �t change the tense; the present remains the present and the past remains the past etc... . But if the reporting verb in the past simple, it �s important to change the tense according to the rule. Ex: �Did you eat out? � Jack said=> Jack wanted to know if I/ we had eaten out. This change from the past simple to the past perfect is logical if we consider the sequence of events without denying my colleagues � explanation. Since there is no context, it �s preferable to stick to the general rules as clarified above.
Concerning the pupils � question �why we use ( actually the past simple in indirect speech is not our choice but that what was said by the speaker not the reporter) the past simple after the reporting verb in the present simple � the answer is that we keep the tenses as they are in their original speech.
I hope it �s clear.
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9 Mar 2010
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lilishurmani
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Hi Holzauge
In reported speech the past simple can usually stay the same or you can change it to the past perfect .
so you can say :
1. My fellow wants to know if we ate out yesterday. OR
2. My fellow wants to know if we had eaten out yesterday.
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9 Mar 2010
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Lina Ladybird
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Actually I don �t think that the past perfect is appropriate here. Maybe if the sentence would read �My fellow wanted to know if we had eaten out yesterday �, but not when it is like sentence 2. in lilishurmani �s example.......
I may be wrong of course, but to me the past perfect doesn �t sound right in this case.
By the way, �Holzauge � means wooden eye in English ----- this is really funny!! LOL
(there �s a German idiom �Holzauge, sei wachsam � which is �keep your eyes peeled � in English)
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9 Mar 2010
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yanogator
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Yes, topolina is correct about the past perfect here - not with the simple present, since, as I would tell my students, the past perfect is the past of the past.
Bruce |
10 Mar 2010
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yanogator
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Hey, I just learned something indirectly (about German). Topolina mentioned that "Holzauge" means "wooden eye" in German, but I see from Holzauge �s "avatar" that it probably also means what we call a "knot" in the wood (since it is shaped like an eye in the wood). If the wood is missing from the spot, it is called a "knothole". There is a kind of pine wood that has many knots in it, so it is called "knotty pine."
Bruce |
10 Mar 2010
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