Past tense + will

Question

This article talks about expected situations next week:
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/498549/parliament-protest-organisers-told-by-police-to-keep-it-peaceful

It says: He said police will be keeping an eye on vehicles in convoys.
Why isn't it : He said police would be... ?

People speak like they speak. And this is an acceptable way to say this though in writing only would would work. — Lambie, Sep 22 '23 at 17:08
Does this answer your question? He said he will attend the party held this weekend. (mixing of tenses). Also Modal verbs in reported speech and Verb Tense Consistency: How do I distinguish these two sentences?, among others. — FumbleFingers, Sep 22 '23 at 17:27

score 1 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 22 '23 at 20:17

1

It seems quite logical to me:

He said (happened in the past eg five minutes ago) people will be keeping an eye on vehicles (something that is going to happen in the future eg next week).

answered Sep 22 '23 at 20:17

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 22 '23 at 17:14

The difference often comes down to the recency of the utterance that’s being reported (not of the report itself, but off its topic). If it’s expected or understood that the police don’t often change their behavior regarding the monitoring of convoys, or anyway that they likely wouldn’t have had time to change that behavior, then the future (will) is natural. It also offers information that may be more useful owing to its currency: “Hey, if you’re planning to take part in a caravan, be aware that the police say they are are monitoring them.”

Past tense + will

2 Answers2