Reported Future in the Past

By: Sean Savoie

Understanding how to shift verb tenses allows a speaker to do more than just report speech; this grammar technique also helps a speaker to express his or her thoughts and hopes. It also is very similar to the grammatical use in the unreal conditional, which is used often in English conversation. The problem English-language students have is that communicating this type of idea is very confusing without correct grammar. Some grammar mistakes are not so dangerous; people can still understand the meaning clearly even though the speaker has made a mistake. For example, "Yesterday I eat so much" is a grammatically incorrect sentence, but the meaning is clear.

Some ideas expressed by Americans involve regret, surprise, and doubt expressed in the past tense. For students who are studying these lessons regularly, an important similarity between reported speech and the expression of regret, surprise, and doubt will be immediately clear. First we should take a look at the answers from the homework of last week. The assignment was to report the following questions, all of which were closed questions. Here are the sentences from last week:

1) "Will you get a newspaper at the store this morning?" Paul asked.

2) "Is the year of the rat going to be a lucky year?" asked Johnny.

3) "Are those your dogs?" the lady asked.

4) "Does Lee do well in school?" asked Kim.

5) "Did your sister find a job in Boston? asked Rita.

6) "Have you read any good books this month? asked Bob.

7) "Have you been studying Spanish?" asked Miguel.

8) "Would you call me if you had a problem?" asked the detective.

Let us assume that "you" always becomes "I". In other words, the speaker is speaking directly to you, the reader. Remember that the use of "if, if... or not, whether, whether... or not, and whether or not..." are all possible in any sentence that reports a closed question. This time I will use "whether or not" simply to be consistent. However, I will change the word "asked" to show a variety of other words. Here are the answers:

1) Paul wondered aloud whether or not I would get a newspaper at the store that morning.

2) Johnny asked me whether or not the year of the rat was going to be a lucky year.

3) The lady inquired whether or not those were my dogs.

4) Kim wanted to know whether or not Lee did well in school.

5) Rita asked whether or not my sister had found a job in Boston.

6) Bob was curious whether or not I had read any good books that month.

7) Miguel asked whether or not I had been studying Spanish.

8) The detective questioned me about whether or not I would call him if I had a problem.

The only sentence that some of you may have gotten incorrect is number eight. This is because the conditional form is used in the expression. The verb tenses do not change. We will get to that grammar soon in this series of articles. But now, we should take a look at how English speakers express thoughts and feelings in the past tense.

Examine how the following pairs of sentences change grammatically just as reported speech does.

I think he will call me when he gets to the library.

I thought he would call me when he got to the library.

You know she will get angry when I tell her the story.

You knew she would get angry when I told her the story.

She imagines he will have a lot of money when he grows up.

She imagined he would have a lot of money when he grew up.

I hope I am going to speak perfect English by 2009.

I hoped I was going to speak perfect English by 2007.

The key verbs in the sentences above are "think, know, imagine, and hope." These are all verbs that project feelings into the future, which is why this verb tense is often called "future in the past". This verb tense shift follows the same logic as reported speech and, as we will see later, the conditional form.

Take a moment to think of all the different words that relate to feelings that you can have in the present and then tell people about in the past. There are hundreds. The grammar stays the same. This technique will enable an English language student to express very much.

One important thing to note is that the expressions "would... and was going to... or, were going to..." have the same meaning when expressing future in the past. In other words, the sentences below are exactly the same:

I felt sure that I was going to get a good grade on the test.

I felt sure that I would get a good grade on the test.

Sometimes the examples are much clearer than explanations. This grammar is such a case. Examine the sentences below simply to get an understanding of how many types of verbs are often used to express these past tense feelings. In all of the sentences, the word "that" may be deleted. Next week, we will take a closer look at how to use these expressions in daily conversation.

Examples:

1) I was convinced that Jack was going to buy that house.

2) We were sure that our team would win the championship.

3) She had no idea that I would give her a gift.

4) All of the people in the meeting were surprised that he had resigned.

5) They were confident that he was going to accept the job.

6) I really thought that he would get a traffic ticket for driving so fast.

7) I soon realized that she was never going to marry me.

8) He promised that he would quit smoking cigarettes.

9) I was excited that she would soon visit the city.

10) She felt that he would understand her if they could just sit down and talk.