indirect speech ... two questions

[eluchnab]

Mam 1 pytanie dotyczące konkretnego przykładu z ćwiczeń:
'Did they understand what you said to them?' he asked me.
odp. podana do tego przykładu w kluczu: He asked me if they had understood what I had said to them.
Niby wszystkie reguły zostały zachowane:
past simple - past perfect
ale czy nie powinno się unikać większej ilości past perfect w zdaniu?
przecież nie zawsze trzeba zamieniać past simple na past perfect. czasem można pozostawić past simple bez zmian...
Możnaby było wobec tego zamienić to zdanie na mowę zależną w taki sposób:
He asked me if they had understood what I said to them. ???

2 pytanie: przykład jest następujący:
'What was she wearing when you saw her last?' the policeman asked me.
odp. z klucza: The policeman asked me what she was/had been wearing when I saw her last.
rozumiem, że 'when I saw her last' nie można zmienić na 'when I had seen...'ze względu na time clause; natomiast czy jest jakaś różnica pomiędzy 'she was wearing' i 'she had been wearing' czy po prostu dąży się do nie nadużywania tak długich form jak np. past perfect continuous?

bardzo dziękuję za pomoc :)

[eluchnab]

ponawiam swoją prośbę. sprawa jest dość pilna
jeszcze raz z góry dziękuję :D

[eluchnab]

PLEASE, HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[zegar4]

The tense of the verb in a subordinate clause (not only time clause) can often
be reduced; for example, from the past perfect tense to the past tense if no
misunderstanding or ambiguity ensues.

In "He asked me if they had understood what I had said to them," if you
reduced "what I had said to them" to "what I said to them," you might imply
that they had understood something before you had the opportunity to say it.
This doesn't mean "He asked me if they had understood what I said to them" is
impossible in any circumstances; "He asked me if they understood what I said"
is more likely though.

Whether the past perfect continuous or past continuous tense is used depends on
how the reporter sees the events: the past perfect will be used when the
reporter wants to convey the sense that some time elapsed after he saw her and
before the cap questioned him. If this time delay is not essential in the
reporter's mind, the past continuous is more likely: "The policeman asked me
what she was wearing..."

[yoric]

That's a good question and I was waiting for a reply too.
Intuitively,
"Asked me if they understood what I said to them" is perfectly OK, and, again
intuitively, I have a strong preference for "had been wearing" over 'was
wearing'. But I'm not prepared to die for my intuitions here :).
Which only means I really need to refresh my knowledge on grammar.
rgdz