indirect speech

[ibex]

Hi,
I was just doing some exercise on indirect speech on this home page, and the computer keeps marking me some sentences wrong. I am not sure, however, if it's really wrong  :redface: or if it's just not the expected answer.

For example, I wrote "Tim had gone to the stadium an hour earlier" instead of "...an hour before".
Or: "Alice complained that she had spent all her pocket money the previous Monday" instead of "...on Monday". Is this misleading?
And is the "the" here (-->) compulsory?: "Mary said she was going to Leipzig the next day" or is it also possible to write "She told me that she was going to Leipzig next day"?

Many thanks in advance!
ibex

[tiorthan]

For example, I wrote "Tim had gone to the stadium an hour earlier" instead of "...an hour before".

An hour before would be understood as "an hour before now" whereas "an hour earlier" is more like "an hour earlier than a certain point in time" for example: an hour earler than expected (althou in the latter case I'd usually say "an hour early").

Or: "Alice complained that she had spent all her pocket money the previous Monday" instead of "...on Monday". Is this misleading?

There's no clear answer to this but generally "on Monday" refers to last Monday. The previous Monday could be understood as the Monday before last.

And is the "the" here (-->) compulsory here?: "Mary said she was going to Leipzig the next day" or is it also possible to write "She told me that she was going to Leipzig next day"?

No, the article is required. "The next day" is synonymous to tomorrow. Without the article it means day as in the opposite of night.