Breakdown of El director confesó que solía llorar en cada graduación.
en
in / on / at
llorar
to cry
que
that / than
el director
the director
cada
each / every
soler
to usually do / to tend to
confesar
to confess
la graduación
graduation
Questions & Answers about El director confesó que solía llorar en cada graduación.
How does tense backshifting work in this sentence if the principal's original words were Suelo llorar (I usually cry)?
In reported speech, when the reporting verb is in the past (like confesó), a statement originally made in the present tense shifts back one step into the past. So, the present tense suelo backshifts to the imperfect tense solía.
What if his original words were already in the past, like Solía llorar (I used to cry)? Would the sentence change?
Why use solía llorar instead of just saying lloraba?
Both are grammatically correct and translate to 'used to cry' as a past habit. However, using the verb soler followed by an infinitive (llorar) strongly emphasizes that this was a routine. It leaves no doubt that it happened repeatedly, whereas lloraba is just the standard imperfect and could sometimes mean 'was crying'.
Can I use todas las graduaciones instead of cada graduación here?
Yes, you can. cada graduación translates directly to 'each graduation' or 'every graduation,' focusing on the individual events one by one. todas las graduaciones translates to 'all the graduations,' focusing on the group as a whole. Both sound natural and carry almost the same meaning in this context.
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