When reporting speech indirectly, the verb tense can be changed if the original statement is no longer considered true. However, it's also possible not to change the tense if the reported action is still relevant to the present.
Ao relatar fala indireta, o tempo verbal pode ser alterado se a declaração original não for mais considerada verdadeira. No entanto, também é possível não alterar o tempo verbal se a ação relatada ainda for relevante para o presente.
| Task | My little sister said: 'I will never go to the circus again!' |
|---|---|
| Answer | 2 |
| a | My little sister said that she would have never gone to the circus again. |
| b | My little sister said that she would never go to the circus again. |
| c | My little sister said that she had never gone to the circus again. |
| d | My little sister said that she was never going to the circus again. |
| comment | We always change the tense in indirect speech if we no longer believe the direct statement is true. In some cases we can choose to change the tense or not. This often depends on the relationship of the reported event to the time of reporting it. If in the test sentence the speaker reports his or her little sister’s utterance 'I will never go to the circus again!'’ on the day it is said, it is still up-to-date for the real future that the speaker’s sister will never go to the circus again. In this case the reported action is still going to happen. That’s why we don’t usually change the tense in such cases. But in such cases, it is also possible, and correct, to change the tense. Therefore, in this test sentence it is possible, and correct, to choose the ANSWER 2. |
| topic | reported speech |
| level | 1 |
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