A few days ago
killerunit A

Whats wrong with the following sentence. Adam told Dave that his friend is not polite.?

Whats wrong with the following sentence. Adam told Dave that his friend is not polite.

Top 10 Answers
A few days ago
Steven Prasetya

Favorite Answer

It should be:

Adam told Dave that his friend was not polite.

This grammar is called “indirect speech”.

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A few days ago
Shihfu Mike Evans
Dangling participle: to whose friend does the sentence refer? Possible corrections include: Adam told Dave that Adam’s friend is not polite (a possible social warning) or Adam told Dave that Dave’s Friend is not polite (a possible complaint). The mix of tenses is not a problem as the past tense ‘told’ tells when the conversation took place, while the present tense ‘is not polite’ denotes an ongoing state of being when describing the demeanor of the friend, rather than a particular occurence.
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A few days ago
Sparkles
This is not a question, it is a statement. Adam told Dave that his friend was not polite. There are no quotation marks because this is not an actual quote that Adam is making to Dave. If it were it would read, “Dave, your friend was not polite.” It is past tense because it has already happened.
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A few days ago
Randi K
Should be Adam told Dave that his friend was not polite or Adam is telling Dave his friend is not polite…..the original has a past and present tense in the same sentence.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
Adam told Dave that his friend WAS not polite.

Doesn’t need quotation marks as in

Adam told Dave, “Your friend is not polite.”

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A few days ago
Anonymous
the problem is that its none of Adams dang business if his friends are polite or not..he is going around stirring up trouble and spreading gossip.. which is simply bad mannars.. as such Adam himself is not being polite..

I think Dave should ditch Adam as a friend and go out and meet some new people.

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A few days ago
Anonymous
It does not make clear who’s friend is not polite, Adam’s or Dave’s.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
You dont know whose friend, Adam’s or Dave’s, is not polite.

Adam told Dave that Adam’s friend is not polite.

…Then again it can be….

Adam told Dave that Dave’s friend is not polite.

I hope you get it.

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A few days ago
serendipity 2
You do not know to whom Adam is referring. It makes you wonder if Adam is saying Adam’s friend isn’t polite..Or Dave’s friend isn’t polite.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
There is a disagreement between past and present and it isn’t clear if it was Adam’s friend or Dave’s friend.
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A few days ago
Anonymous
the verb told is past tense so the is should be was adam told dave that his friend was not polite. you ndont use quotes cuz there is no direct conversation
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