“Easy” noun clauses
• Tina wants to know where the meeting is
• Tony wonders who stole the car
• I don’t know if Tina has finished the project
• She will ask me whether or not I will help
• I have heard that Tony is very smart
Simple rule
• Verb in the main clause is in – Present tense– Future tense– Present perfect tense
• then the noun clause can use any of the six verb tenses (=“easy” noun clause)
Harder rule
• Verb in the main clause in in– Past tense– Past perfect tense
• then the noun clause (=“reported speech”) can only use
– Past tense– Past perfect tense– “Past” modal (“would,” “might,” “could,” etc.)
Harder rule
• Another way to look at it:– When the main clause has a verb in
• Past tense• Past perfect tense
– then the noun clause does not use» Present tense» Present perfect tense» Future tense » “present” modals (“can,” “may,” etc.)
Big exception
• He knew that the Earth is (was?) flat
• He told them that his name is (was?) Tony
• She explained what the formula for water is (was?)
• He knew that the sky is (was?) blue
Reported speech
• Tina wanted to know where the meeting was
• Tony wondered who had stolen the car
• I didn’t know if Tina had finished the project
• She asked me whether or not I would help
• I had heard that Tony was very smart
“will” or “would”
• She told me that she would move to New York
• She told me that she will move to New York
• He said that the meeting would be on September 1st
• He said that the meeting will be on October 1st
Practice
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