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I saw this term, backshifting, in an answer to another question, that was not endorsed by the community:

[T]he process called backshifting...signal[s] that the speech is not direct/quoted but rather it is indirect/reported.

That sounds very interesting, but unfortunately, I can't be sure of if this given definition is correct, as it is found in a downvoted answer.

So: What is backshifting, and how does it apply to English? As always, plenty of examples are requested!

tchrist
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Uticensis
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1 Answers1

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I think what Dan meant was what happens to direct speech when you turn it into indirect speech; this is especially notable when the indirect speech is subordinate to a sentence in a past tense:

She said: "I will tell him that you lied". (Direct speech, no shifting.)

She announced that she would tell him that you had lied. (Indirect/reported speech, tenses shift.)

Because the tense of the main clause is in the past ("announced"), the finite verbs in the reported/indirect speech shift back in time: "will" becomes "would", and "lied" becomes "had lied".

So "I" becomes "she", because I decided that it was "she" who was announcing her own intentions ("she said" in the first example). You could say "she announced that I would ..."; it would just describe a different situation. That all depends on who's who and who's talking.

Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
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  • Is the presence of "would have" in this sentence, "Yesterday I went to the bank to make sure I would have enough money for my trip," in place of "will have" in this sentence, "Today I am going to the bank to make sure I will have enough money for my trip," also because of backshifting? Or is it some other phenomenon altogether? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Jan 12 '20 at 13:57
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    @MrReality: Yes, that is also backshifting. It is the same phaenomenon. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Jan 12 '20 at 14:30
  • Do the bolded verbs in the following sentences have backshifting too: 1) "I think it's high time you grew up." 2) "It would be nice to see you before I left." 3) "I will see to it before I left"? And if not backshifting, is either of them in the past subjunctive form? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Apr 03 '20 at 12:25
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    @HeWhoMustBeNamed: As to example no. 2: with "would" conditional sentences, I believe some authors write by different rules, but the most commonly accepted rule is this: the main clause has "would"; the conditional clause (the "if" clause) has a past subjunctive; and any clauses depending on the "if" clause have simple past (or other non-subjunctive past). Should we call that backshifting? Perhaps so, although it is a bit different in a way. Your second example is a conditional sentence with the actual condition left out, but, when you supply e.g. "if I could", it abides by the rule. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Apr 03 '20 at 14:44
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    @HeWhoMustBeNamed: Example no. 1 feels like a past subjunctive to me, comparable to Suppose you went to India, what would you do? I'm not exactly sure what to call that. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Apr 03 '20 at 14:46
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    @HeWhoMustBeNamed: Example no. 3 looks odd to me. I'm not sure it is proper English; "left" makes little sense to me. I would use "leave" there. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Apr 03 '20 at 14:47
  • Thank you very much for the replies. :) Re example no. 1, after thinking over it a bit more, I think it's definitely a past subjunctive as we can have "I think it's high time he were a mensch", where were is being used with a singular pronoun; and my guess is that the subjunctive is licensed by the phrase "high time". // Re example no. 2, can you elaborate on what basis you say that the sentence has an implicit condition? Doesn't it abide by Occam's Razor and so is better to interpret it as a 'softening' or politeness word, as in "... would suggest / think / imagine / etc. ..."; or . . . – HeWhoMustBeNamed Apr 05 '20 at 15:15
  • . . . a 'softening' word again but where it perhaps also has a futurity meaning, as in "... would appreciate / like / etc. ..."? Re example no. 3, the sentence sounds good to me if "left" is emphasised ("Yes, I'll definitely see to it before I left"), or the sentence is in a wider context. But I am not a native speaker, so I'd like to know whether emphasisingleft makes any difference for you. Also, if not at present, does replacing will by would make the sentence acceptable: "I would see to it before I left"; or can we only do so in conditional sentences? – HeWhoMustBeNamed Apr 05 '20 at 15:16
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    @HeWhoMustBeNamed: A bit late but: I agree (1) is a subjunctive, lincensed by it is high time. // I would say the root of all those polite woulds and shoulds is an implied condition. You could say Occam's Razor cuts in many ways: this way, you can explain away polite would and conditionals as one and the same phaenomenon. [If you asked me,] I would say... or [if it were my place to say,] I should appreciate..., etc. ... – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Oct 05 '21 at 04:11
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    ... // Even after all this time, the following still sounds wrong tome me, to the extent that I cannot see how it should make sense: ?Yes, I'll definitely see to it before I left. With would, it does make sense. It's simply agreement of tenses to me. – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Oct 05 '21 at 04:12
  • Thank you for all your helpful and detailed replies! (Btw, #3 sounds wrong to me too now! :) – HeWhoMustBeNamed Sep 21 '22 at 18:33
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    @HeWhoMustBeNamed: Ah, good! It's funny how we are talking about a question from 11 years ago... – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica Sep 22 '22 at 02:14