Welcome to
ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans,  activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

 


 

 

 

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

 

ESL forum > Ask for help > reported    

reported



nhatminh0904
Vietnam

reported
 
please help me:
He asked me ",Did you go shopping last night?

� He asked me if I went shopping the night before.
Can I use the simple past tense here if I don �t want to change into the past perfect?
Thanks in advance

6 Nov 2011      





maryse pey�
France

He asked me if I HAD GONE shopping the night before.
 
That way the chronology is respected.

6 Nov 2011     



-eva
Spain

As far as I know, in Rep Speech, simple past can be kept as such in the tense backshift, it �s a kind of exception. So both sentences, the simple past and the past perfect one are grammatically correct, aren �t they?

6 Nov 2011     



teachervani
Argentina

You can use simple past or past perfect.. both are correct.

6 Nov 2011     



MoodyMoody
United States

Personally, "He asked me if I �d gone shopping the night before" sounds better. But I hear the other all the time from other native speakers, so go for it.

7 Nov 2011