Puzzling grammar?

Posted by Christopher Hyatt on February 20, 2003

In Reply to: puzzling grammar? posted by R. Berg on February 20, 2003

: : Hello,
: : I know this forum is used to ask questions related to idiom. But I do trust you about any interpretations of English grammar. I had post the following questions in different grammar forums but I got totally different answers. I was quite puzzled by it, and wondering if you could help me out. Here're the questions:
: : 1.Which is grammatically correct and natural?
: : (a) I heard he said you won't come to my party next week.
: : (b) I heard from him that you won't come to my party next week.
: : (c) I heard from him that you wouldn't come to my party next week.
: : (d) I heard it from him that you won't come to my party next week.
: : (e) I heard it from him that you wouldn't come to my party next week.
: : 2. If some of them are correct, do they share the same meaning?
: : One answered that (a) is the most natural and (d) and (e) are incorrect. The other answered that (a) is incorrect and the rest(b,c,d,e) are correct.
: : Thank you very much for your help.

: a, b, and c are correct. d and e are incorrect.

: a means SOMEBODY ELSE (not he) reported to me that he said you will not come.

: b means HE HIMSELF told me you will not come.

: c means the same thing as b. There may be a difference: a speaker might use c to mean you will actively refuse to come to my party and b to mean you simply won't be there, for whatever reason, perhaps a reason outside your control. But speakers who choose b or c do not necessarily have that difference in mind.

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I agree 100% with R Berg

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