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The secretary informed Mr.Wallaby that the Merlin Restaurant ____ to provide a dining room that seats 100 people.

(A) to contract
(B) contracting
(c) contracts
(d) has been contracted

First, the answer is (d), but I think 'd' is not correct. I think that 'had been contracted' is the correct answer by the sequence of tense.

ex)
He said that she had been happy.
He said that she has been happy. (X)

I want to know why d 'has been contracted' is correct? and what is diffrence 'had been contracted' with 'has been contracted' in this sentence?

200_success
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Dasik
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    The difference between the Test's answer and your suggestion is that your suggestion uses a backshift version that corresponds to the subordinate clause "that the Merlin Restaurant has been* contracted . . ."* For the given context, both could be used. But the present-perfect version (the Test's version) might be preferable by some because it tends to emphasize the ongoing currentness of that contract. That is one of the things that a present-perfect is good for: it is used when the situation it describes is (still) important for the present time. – F.E. Sep 01 '14 at 19:21

1 Answers1

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Its the difference of a past event vs. a continuing event. In:

The secretary informed Mr. Wallaby that the Merlin Restaurant has been contracted to provide a dining room that seats 100 people.

Here has been contracted is correct becuase in context a "contract" exists until the terms have been fulfilled and compensation paid. At the point this was said, seems to be prior to the restaurant event.

But you could say something like:

The secretary informed Mr. Wallaby that the Merlin Restaurant had been contracted to provide a dining room that seats 100 people, but the place closed unexpectedly. Therefore we had to go to another restaurant.

because the contract could not be fulfilled. It is now past history.

user3169
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