Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[howtowhyis]

He said birds came to the pond.
He said birds come to the pond.

I think I came use both sentences because the first means that the action was done and the seconds means that the action is habitual.

Why does my grammar book teach to use the past tense when reporting speech?

[2006]

"said" is past tense.

[CP]

Your assessment is right: In the first one, the speaker is reporting what he saw or learned about the birds on a specific occasion. In the second one, he is reporting what the birds do all the time, or yearly, etc. In both sentences, he made the statement in the past, hence "said."
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