Reported speech with tense change.

[samya.barham]

Hi everybody
I need someone to help me report these sentences.
1- Robert, " I was teaching English."
2- Sara, I can play the piano."

Thank you

 

[5jj]

You try first, and then we'll comment.

Incidentally, the first one is unusual as a stand-alone sentence. Have you any more context?

 

[samya.barham]

When we report statements, we change the tenses. For example, present simple becomes past simple. But if we want to report a sentence with past continuous, do we change the tense or it stays the same?

 

[5jj]

When we report statements, we change the tenses. For example, present simple becomes past simple.
We don't have to do this if the situation reported is still valid at the time of reporting.
But if we want to report a sentence with past continuous, do we change the tense or it stays the same?
It depends on the situation and the time of reporting.

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