Reported speech

English grammar questions, answered by Alan

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Marcin
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Reported speech

Post by Marcin »

Hi,

"As a young father I had short hair and wore a hat and I didn't wear glasses until I turned 60."

Can the above direct speech sentence be turned into the following reported speech sentence:

He said that as a young father he had had short hair and had worn a hat and he hadn't worn glasses until he turned 60?

Can you please explain, why "he turned 60" does not change to "he had turned 60"?

Thanks,

Marcin
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Alan
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Re: Reported speech

Post by Alan »

'Had turned' would be perfectly correct, but the simple past here (in a situation where the general time sequence has already
been clearly established by multiple other past perfects) would be considered acceptable by most speakers.
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