Question posted by Forum member benedict in my Personal Messages box (November 23, 2018): Good day Sir Joe,
May I ask Sir which of the statements below are correct.
"Sir Gino
said he found it a little too high given the budget allocated to it."
or
"Sir Gino
said he had found it a little too high given the budget allocated to it."
[Statement for the attachment:]
"I
attached the said document here for your reference."
or
"I
have attached the said document here for your reference."
Thank you, Sir.
My reply to benedict:The first reported speech construction is correct: "Sir Gino
said he found it a little too high given the budget allocated to it." The present tense simple becomes the past tense simple, not the past perfect, in reported speech.
As to the two alternative replies you provided, the second one in the present perfect is the scrupulously correct tense: "I
have attached the said document here for your reference." Hardly anybody will quarrel with you though if you use the simple past tense: "I
attached the said document here for your reference." The semantic difference is very slight and only a very strict grammarian will demand that you use the present perfect.
For the specific rules for tenses in reported speech, check out my Forum posting on
"Choosing tense for reporting verbs in reported speech."
