Usage of won't (I asked her what happened, but she won't tell me)

[Hime]

There is a sentence I found in my English text book
and I don't think it is right.

"I asked her what happened, but she won't tell me."

Shouldn't this sentence be read
"......, but she didn't tell me." instead of "won't"
because the verb of the first sentence is "asked", past tense.

Could you explain why this is OK? Thanks!

[Molly]

"won't tell me"= clearly states that she refuses to or declines telling you. "Didn't tell me" could express the same, but less definitely.

[Lost_Soul]

[Molly]

Shouldn't it be wouldn't, since it was in the past, not now ?

You need to brush up on your reported speech/events grammar.

Think about:

I invited him out to dinner, but he refused.
I invited him out to dinner, but he refuses.

In which one are we sure that he still refuses, and what is the time gap between the original speech and the reported moment in each of those examples, IYO?

Also:

I asked her what happened, she wouldn't tell me, but now she has told me.
I asked her what happened, she won't tell me, *but now she has told me.

[Yankee]

Hi Alex and Hime

The word "will" can be used to talk about "willingness".

You can say "but she wouldn't tell me" to indicate that she expressed a refusal to tell you what happened at the time you asked her to tell you. The use of "wouldn't" does not automatically suggest that her unwillingness has changed to willingness in the meantime. It simply reports her past refusal.

The use of "won't" basically looks at "her unwillingness" as an ongoing state rather than as a past act of refusal to tell.

[Lost_Soul]

[Hime]

Sorry but I'm still being confused...
So you guys are saying that it is OK to use "won't" for past events
if it means to indicate unwillingness?

[Yankee]

Hi Hime

It is possible to say "wouldn't" OR "won't" (and a number of other things as well) in your sentence.

If someone decides to use the phrase "won't tell me" in your sentence, that basically means the same thing as "is not willing to tell me".

Let's stop for a minute and think about the word "is". That is the simple present tense.
If I say "He is young", that focuses on a fact that is true at present. However, the fact that he is young was also true last week, for example.

Now, apply that idea to "She is not willing to tell me what happened". In the context of your sentence, the speaker would be emphasizing the fact that "she was unwilling to tell you" AND that her unwillingness still exists now. In other words, it is a general fact that she is not willing to tell you what happened.

Does that help?
.

[Molly]

[Molly]

Try this one:

I asked her what happened, but she wouldn't tell me then and she won't tell me now.
I asked her what happened, but she refused to tell me then and she still refuses to tell me.

In other words, in the past, she was unwilling to tell the speaker what (had) happened and she is still unwilling to do so.

[Hime]

Hi, Amy

You say "won't" means "isn't" here, talking about present situation inferred from past situation.
So the speaker emphasizes her unwillingness by the way using "won't" rather than "didn't".
If so, why the speaker did not use "doesn't" insted of "won't"?

You know "will" indicates future!!
So does the speaker thinks that her unwillingness exsisted and still exsits now, and will exist in the future?
That's why the speaker use "won"t" insted of "doesn't"?

[Yankee]

Hi Hime

The word "will" can be used with another verb to refer to the future.
However, the word "will" is not used exclusively to form a "future tense".
In your sentence, the word "will" refers to "willingness". In other words, the phrase "she will not" basically means exactly the same thing as "she is not willing".

In your sentence is:
She will not tell me = She is not willing to tell me

So, yes, the speaker is suggesting that she was unwilling in the past and that she is unwilling now, and that there is also reason to believe that she will continue to be unwilling.
.

[MrPedantic]

[Molly]

Let me write it a little clearer for a certain MrPerson:

"won't tell me"= clearly states that she refuses to tell you or declines telling you. "Didn't tell me" could also refer to a refusal or declination, but less definitely or more ambiguously.

Added to that, both won't and didn't are used to locate help the action/event in time - which I think is the more obvious statement of the two here.

[Hime]

Could you explain the difference b/w those following sentences again
in order to clarify for me?

1) I asked her what happened, but she didn't tell me.
2)I asked her what happened, but she doesn't tell me.
3)I asked her what happened, but she wouldn't tell me.
4)I asked her what happened, but she won't tell me.

Thanks.