Somebody please help needed....

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ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Somebody please help needed....

Somebody please help needed....

naryana

Somebody please help needed....

Hey everyone ... can anyone kindly tell me which answer is correct ?

"Why do people come here?"

A: She asked me why people come or came here.

one of my inquisitive sts asked me why come and not came ...I was a bit puzzled but then i told her that it depends on the situation itself... meaning if it is a place whiche people regularly come to like a museum or a religious place then we should use come instead of came ...was i grammatically correct? please enlighten me...

i guess my explanation is a bit rusty...hmmmmm!Thanks in advance ....have a wonderful day....

1 Apr 2010

ebrahmi

Since the introductory verb "ask" is in the past simple, the reported speech should be as follows:

A: She asked me why people cAme THERE.

For a better understanding download a printable on the requisite changes one has to apply when reporting a statement.

ebrahmi

1 Apr 2010

lango

Why do people come here? = She asked me why people come here. (they are still coming..continuous)

Why did people come here? = She asked me why people came here. (they have stopped coming, or don �t come anymore...past)

1 Apr 2010

ohermann

Yes, Ebrahmi, you�re right as far as grammatical rules go.

In my humble opinion I would also say another explanation:

If, for example, she (the person from the given sentence) phoned me and asked the question, and after the phone call another person (who was present during the phone call) asked What did she ask about? I could answer She asked me why people come here. without using the sequence of tenses (because it is the present situation and similar to She says... or She asks ... ).

Hope I am right. What do you say, native speakers?

Happy All Fool�s Day in your classes!

1 Apr 2010

MarionG

Lango explains very nicely why the original asker uses come rather than came, and there is a real difference in the question. to re-write that you basically quote the original question. She asked: "Why do people come here?"

1 Apr 2010

naryana

Thanks for all those who reponded to my question...I reckon my guessing is more or less close to the point...and Happy All Fool �s Day in your classes ,too.

1 Apr 2010

lshorton99

Example:

Two friends at a museum.

Speaker 1: This place is so boring! Why do people come it?
Speaker 2: I like it - I think it �s interesting.

Another day at the museum. Speaker 1 has gone. Spealer 2 is talking to a different friend.

Speaker 2: She �s never been interested in art. She asked me why people come here - can you believe it?

The reason for not backshifting to the past simple is because the situation is still relevant - people haven �t stopped going to the museum. �here � isn �t replaced by �there � because the reporting takes place in the same location.

Hope that helps!

1 Apr 2010

Rosi Noor

Hi there,

It seems to me that your student doesn�t acknowledge the fact that we have to change the tense of the sentence from prent simple to past simple in reported speech.

So when we say

" Why do people come here?"

We need to report it this way:

She sked me why people came here.

Your student may ask you: " How about if we have ( Why did people come here? ) the tense of the verb is already past simple.

Well, when the verb is past simple, that will take us to the fact that we need to change the tense from past simple to past perfect, applying that:

" Why did people come here?"

We need to report it this way:

She sked me why people had come here.

She also needs to be aware that [ come ] here is past participle not present simple.

Have a nice day!

1 Apr 2010