reported speech

I don't understand your question. Please clarify. What is it that you need to know? Are you asking whether the sentence

He said that John was honest.

is OK?

If he said it yesterday you'd probably say, "He said that John is honest". If he said it in 1935, you'd be more likely to say "He said that John was honest".

I believe it can also be reported as He said that he is honest.

I believe it is possible to use 'is' too. In this case I think the speaker believes that he (the one the speaker is talking about) is honest.

I hope my question is clear now.

Many thanks.

Depends on the "time" or tense you want to set:

After the court testimony, he said John was honest.

At his funeral, he said John was an honest man.


He said John is honest, so I will hire him as an accountant.

He claims that John is an honest man.

Thanks, guys.

Re: reported speech


When we use reported speech, YL, it has nothing to do with actual tense shifts. In other words the change to a past tense is a change in FORM only and this change occurs ONLY to let listeners know that the speech is reported as opposed to a direct quotation.

So of course you can use 'is' in situations like this. There are, of course, time considerations, as noted by SullyFish, that affect our choices.

Thanks, JTT.