English grammar questions, answered by Alan
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googl
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by googl » Thu Sep 30, 2004 7:35 am
Dear teacher,
if I change "I am going to do" in reported speech I will get "he said that I was going to do". How should I change "I was going to do" (but I didn't): "he said that I had been going to do" or don't change the tense? (by the way, sorry for the last post)
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Alan
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by Alan » Thu Sep 30, 2004 11:17 am
'He said he HAD BEEN going to...' is strictly correct, although many speakers would leave it unshifted.
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googl
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by googl » Fri Oct 01, 2004 7:41 am
Is this construct available "without reporter": is the sentence "I had been going to do" correct or is it possible only in the clause "I said..." while reporting?
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Alan
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by Alan » Sun Oct 03, 2004 1:27 pm
Most certainly, e.g. I HAD BEEN GOING to keep it secret until the following week, but I decided after all to tell them the news straight away.