Additional Information and Exceptions

Apart from the above mentioned basic rules, there are further aspects that you should keep in mind, for example:

· main clauses connected with and / but

· tense of the introductory clause

· reported speech for difficult tenses

· exceptions for backshift

· requests with must, should, ought to and let’s

Main Clauses connected with and / but

If two complete main clauses are connected with ‚and‘ or ‚but‘, put ‚that‘ after the conjunction.

Example:

He said,“I saw her but she didn’t see me.“ – He said that he had seen her but that she hadn’t seen him.“

If the subject is left out in the second main clause (the conjunction is followed by a verb), do not use ‚that‘.

Example:

She said,“I am a nurse and work in a hospital.“ – He said that she was a nurse and worked in a hospital.“

Tense of the Introductory Clause

The introductory clause usually is in Past Tense.

Present Tense is often used to report a conversation that is still going on, e. g. during a phone call or while reading a letter.

Example:

“I am fine.“ – Tom says / writes that he is fine.

The introductory clause can also be in another tense. In the following table you can see, for which tense of the introductory clause you have to use backshift in reported speech

No backshift If introductory clauses is in…	Backshift If introductory clause is in …
Present Simple (he says…) Present perfect (he has said…) Future I will (He will say) Future I going to (he is going to say)	Past Simple (he said…) Past perfect (he said that…) Future II (He will have said…) Conditional I (he would say…) Conditional II (he would have said…)