Dear Geist,
The question [
] isn’t just about direction of movement, it’s about indirect dialogue. In direct dialogue, everything is written verbatim:
“Ted phoned last Thursday. ‘Can you come over to my place tomorrow?’ he said.
‘Mom will be there.’”
But in indirect voice, elements that are relative to the speaker get changed. It’s a fairly broad principle, going beyond simple grammar:
“Ted phoned last Thursday and asked
[or

”

Dear Robert,


Many thanks for these enriching additions. More evidence that when it comes to questions on language, there are no simple answers!


—The Editors