you would say, "Sam has run a red light"

[NAL123]

Let's say John and Sam are having a conversation:

John: What does "running a red light" mean?

(1) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say, "Sam has run a red light".
(2) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that Sam has run a red light.
(3) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that Sam ran a red light.
 (4) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that Sam had run a red light.

Q1) Which one(s) of the above is (are) correct/idiomatic? It's basically a question about backshifting in conditionals.
Q2) Should it be "Sam (run) the red light" instead, in (1) to (4)?

 

[Tarheel]

None of them are natural (idiomatic). Sam ran THROUGH a red light. Or ran a red light.

 

[NAL123]

None of them are natural (idiomatic). Sam ran THROUGH a red light. Or ran a red light.

You mean the following are idiomatic, right?

(5) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say, "Sam ran a red light".

(6) Sam: If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that Sam ran a red light.

 

[jutfrank]

 This one:

If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that I had 'run a red light'.

 

[NAL123]

 This one:

If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that I had 'run a red light'.

With quotation marks, how would you say it?

 

[jutfrank]

I wouldn't use quotation marks. Look at how I punctuated it in post #4.

 

[NAL123]

 This one:

If I were to drive past a red traffic light without stopping, you would say that I had 'run a red light'.

Sorry, your use of punctuation above is not clear to me. Could you please explain it a little?

 

[Tarheel]

What do you not understand?

 

[jutfrank]

Sorry, your use of punctuation above is not clear to me. Could you please explain it a little?

The expression in question (run a red light) must be enclosed in punctuation marks. If you look closely, you'll see I've used inverted commas. These marks represent how in speech it would be pronounced in an emphatic way, to highlight the phrase to the listener.