This is perhaps the weirdest thing that happen to me since I started learning the English language – the writing in “reporting tense”, or “indirect speech” (“I am dancing” -> He said he was dancing) – as required for writing meeting minutes. I have come to realize that I have never done meeting minutes (at least formally) in my life, and obviously in those situations, I don’t have to the huge pressure of native English speakers such as the island-grown Singaporeans glaring at my half-past six linguistic capabilities. Ouch, my head hurts.<\/p>\n
So, I learned again yesterday, after learning it around 20 years ago when I was 8 years old, that this<\/b> becomes that<\/b>, at the moment<\/b> becomes at that moment<\/b>, must be<\/b> becomes must have been<\/b>, may bring<\/b> becomes might bring<\/b>, and when she said, “I’ve worked here since I left my last job.”<\/b>, I have to write She told me that she had<\/u> worked there<\/u> since she HAD<\/u> left her last job<\/b>, and how the hell the last HAD went into the sentence was still pretty unclear to me… one step back into the past? Also, indirect questions can be complicated for my feeble brain, thus I try to minimize.<\/p>\n