View Single Post
  #10 (permalink)  
Unread Apr 26th, 2010, 03:08 am
susan53 susan53 is offline
Sue
 
Join Date: Oct 8th, 2006
Location: Milan
Posts: 1,406
susan53 is on a distinguished road
Default Re: Too many questions about grammar amd meaning

15) He said that He loves her--> This is correct - He said it yesterday (so past said is obligatory). You then have a choice for the other verb. You can make it agreed with the first verb - He said that he loved her - or, leave it in the present because it's still true - He said that he loves her. Both are equally possible.


He thought that He loves her--> Think about it - it's logically impossible. "He thought" means "In the past, his opinion was that ..." in other words, he's changed his mind. If it were still true, you'd say He thinks .... So logically it must be one of the following:

He thought he loved her (but now he realises that he doesn't).
He thinks he loves her.

Of course, if you are again just telling me what he said, then there's no suggestion that his opinion has changed, so any of the following are possible, all with the same meaning. Intuitively thought, I'd think that the two with the asterisk are the most likely:

He said he thought he loved her.*
He said he thought he loves her.
He said he thinks he loves her.*
__________________
An ELT Notebook
The DELTA Course
Reply With Quote