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I read this statement in an English book and I wonder if this statement is correct:

  • She told me that she still remembers how scared everyone was.

I have learned that in indirect speech statements the present-tense verbs must be converted to past-tense verbs. Rendering the statement thus:

  • She told me that she still remembered how scared everyone was.

Is either incorrect?

Edwin Ashworth
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hosseinAmini
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    See both answers. (By the way, you need to ask whether the sentence is correct, not whether it's true.) – Kate Bunting Nov 21 '20 at 09:03
  • @KateBunting Ok, thank you for your answer. You mean I must say "I wonder whether the sentence is correct"? – hosseinAmini Nov 21 '20 at 09:26
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    Yes. The sentence is just a grammar example; it doesn't have to be true or untrue. – Kate Bunting Nov 21 '20 at 09:53
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    @KateBunting Yes, for example 'The moon is made of green cheese.' is grammatically correct but factually untrue (unless we're talking about some sort of party food rather than the Earth's satellite). – BoldBen Nov 21 '20 at 11:09
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    (1) is only acceptable if (a) 'she' is still alive and (b) the passing on of information is relatively recent (certainly not if 'she told me' this 30 years ago). We can never be absolutely sure; she may have 'forgotten this' or died yesterday, without my knowledge. // (2) is acceptable without any temporal constraints. The backshifting may be intended to hint at a non-recent telling, but is still acceptable (and hence gives rise to more vagueness than (1) does) for a very recent telling. – Edwin Ashworth Nov 21 '20 at 15:12
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    Does this answer your question? I received an email saying documents are /were (though the ELL thread is good). – Edwin Ashworth Nov 21 '20 at 15:17

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