Chart for Sequence of Tenses

The Grammar HELP!  Student Handbook - Online!

In today's Grammar HELP! Student Handbook - Online! lesson we continue our unit on Indirect Speech (also known as Reported Speech). 

Please keep in mind that all the examples you see below were contributed by ESL students in their writing and reading classes. We bring you only authentic writing.

Verb Tense Chart for Back-shift

 

When the main verb is in the past tense, you must change the verb tense of the dependent clause (i.e., the words being reported).

  • Direct:  Last night Joe said, "I am hungry."

  • Indirect:  Last night Joe said that he was hungry.

 

Verb Tense of Main Verb of the Original Statement   Verb Tense with Back-shift for Reported Speech
     
simple present tense ⇒ simple past
present continuous ⇒ past continuous
past continuous


1) indicating a plan for the future
2) indicating a past action

⇒
⇒ 		past continuous


1) past continuous
2) past perfect continuous

simple past
present perfect
past perfect past perfect
⇒		  

past perfect
modals:

-will
-can
-must
-have to
-should
-might

   modals:

-would
-could
-had to
-had to
-should (no change)
-might (no change)


Next... Sentence Structure of Indirect Speech

 

Join us or our next lesson, "Sentence Structure of Indirect Speech"

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