How to report that imperative sentence indirectly: "He will come and see me tomorrow."? Should we use "would" or "should" in the reported statement: "X ordered that he would / should come and see them the following day."
Thank you very much for the answer. I am not a native speaker of English. I learnt that "will" constitutes a command when it is pronounced strongly and I thought the statement "He will come and see me" was an order. If it was an order then it would be or could be reported with the reporting verb "order." If the statement can't be taken as an order then there is a problem either with my apperception or the knowledge I obtained regarding the use of "will." I would be very grateful if somebody would explain what is wrong with my knowledge. I'll clarify my example. Tom to George: "Arthur will come and see me tomorrow!" Can't we use that statement as an order? If we can, can't we report it with the reporting verb "order"? Many thanks in advance.
Best Answer
As presented, there is nothing to report in any form so who actually said what, please?
‘X ordered that he should come and see them the following day’ is better than ‘…would …’ but only in the context of the given question.
‘He will come and see me tomorrow’ cannot be transposed into anyone ordering anything, whether the visitation is assured or not. It has nothing to with X or any order, nor indeed with anything said. It appears to be a statement not by ‘him’ but by ‘me’; a belief or conclusion based on something else that went before, not a report.
If originally ‘he’ had said ‘I’ll come and see you tomorrow’ then a direct report would simply state ‘He said “I’ll come and see you tomorrow.’
An indirect version might be ‘He said he would come and see you tomorrow.’
‘X ordered…’ seems to introduce a third person, presumably a superior of ’he’
If originally X had said to ‘him’: ‘You will go and see them tomorrow’ then a direct report would simply state ‘X told him “You will go and see them tomorrow.’
An indirect version might be ‘X told him to go and see them tomorrow’ or with some liberty ‘… the next day’.
‘X told him he must go…’ appears more obvious because it’s closer to the original but although clearly, X did the telling, who was to do the going?