Tense changes in indirect speech

No tense changes

There are no tense changes in indirect speech if:

• the reporting verb is in a present tense; this is often the case with simultaneous reporting or when the original words were spoken a short time ago and are still relevant:
  

  Joanna: I have just arrived in Hanoi.
  Joanna says she has just arrived in Hanoi. (reporting a recent telephone conversation; the reporting verb say is in present simple)

• the reported words are true at the time of reporting:
  

  George: I'm meeting Karen tomorrow.
  George said he is meeting Karen tomorrow. (reported on the same day, tomorrow still refers to tomorrow)

  Compare:

  George said he was meeting Karen the following day. (reported days later, the meeting has already happened)

• the reported words express a general truth:
  

  Copernicus: The planets revolve around the sun.
  Copernicus stated that the planets revolve around the sun. (it is a general truth)

  Compare:

  Once, people believed that the earth was flat. (the reported words are no longer true; people do not believe that the earth is flat)

• the reported words refer to an unreal situation:
  

  Mike: I wish I was a year older; then I could enter the race.
  Mike wished he was a year older, so he could enter the race. (he is not older)

Tense changes

Tenses change in indirect speech if:

• the reported words are no longer true or are out-of-date; this is often the case when we report something after the reference point of the original statement and the reporting verb is in a past tense:
  

  Philip in 1980: I have never been to Brunei, but I'm thinking about going there. (the reference point of the present perfect and the present continuous is 1980)
  When I met Philip in 1980, he said he had never been to Brunei, but he was thinking about going there. (reported years later; the reported words are out of date)

• we want to report objectively; when we do not know whether the reported words are true, and we do not want to suggest that they are:
  

  Tim: Sorry, I can't go to work this week. I'm ill.
  Tim isn't coming to work this week. He said that he was ill.

Tense backshift

As can be seen in the examples above, the verbs in the present perfect, present continuous and present simple tenses in the original statements changed into their corresponding past equivalents (past perfect, past continuous and past simple) in indirect speech. This process is called tense backshift. Note that tense backshift is based on how tenses relate to each other in general:

When I met Philip in 1980, he said he had never been to Brunei.
When I arrived at work, I remembered that I hadn't locked the door to my apartment.
(two consecutive actions and an earlier action)

When I met Philip in 1980, he said he was thinking about going to Brunei.
When I entered the room, I saw that she was studying.
(two consecutive actions and a background action in progress)

Tim said that he was ill.
I went outside. It was a warm day.
(a past action and a past state)

Tense backshift:

The past perfect and past perfect continuous tenses do not change.

In complex sentences, the past simple and past continuous may remain unchanged if the temporal relationship between the events in the clauses is clear from the context:

John: When I got home, I went to bed straight away.
John told me that when he got home he went to bed straight away.

Bill: I was reading a book when I heard the crash.
Bill said that he was reading a book when he heard the crash.

Helen: When I was writing my thesis, I spent a lot of time at the library.
Helen recalled that when she was writing her thesis she spent a lot of time at the library.

Tim: My friends were enjoying themselves playing cards while I was studying in my room.
Tim grumbled that his friends were enjoying themselves playing cards while he was studying in his room.

Chris: When I got to her house, she had been waiting for hours.
Chris said that when he got to her house she had been waiting for hours.