for questions about the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences.
Questions tagged [sequence-of-tenses]
208 questions
3
votes
1 answer
Whenever + tense
I was taking an English test, and the sentence was :
The barrage would be used whenever an exceptional tide ... forecast.
a) was
b) is
and I don't remember c) and d).
I went for b), however the answer indicated by the website was a). It just…
J-eu
- 39
3
votes
2 answers
"Now is the time" followed by past tense verb
This morning I heard Jeremy Corbyn's speech at the Labour Conference. Here is a section of that speech. Can anyone tell me what tense he is using and why?
"Now is the time that government took a more active role in restructuring our economy. Now…
2
votes
1 answer
Which tenses when discussing the feelings between people (in the past)?
Let's imagine the following situation: someone was once a soldier on a mission (is not anymore!) and wants to write about that period of time. He wants to talk about the feelings of the locals in the mission's country. However, despite writing about…
ziu
- 41
2
votes
1 answer
"I told you last night, it’s finished." - "it is" or "it was" finished?
This is from the educational serial Extra English s01 (Hector’s Arrival). Here's a part of the script.
BRIDGET [reading email message]
‘Gigi!!
Did you get my message?
Please call me.
Love, John.
P.S: Did you get the flowers?’
BRIDGET
Is he…
Julia A
- 21
2
votes
2 answers
He found + present/past tense
Please advise me on this - Imagine, A and B are two friends.
A says to B : "You go to Sam's room and see if Sam's sleeping."
B : "Okay"
B leaves and find that Sam's room is closed. 5…
iamRR
- 470
1
vote
2 answers
Was or is or both? A line from the Prologue to The Canterbury Tales
"He was as fresh as is the month of May".
The above is the 94th line from 'The Canterbury Tales: General Prologue'.
Questions:
Why are 'was' and 'is' in the same line/sentence?
If it is taken as a sentence, what type of a sentence is it?…
mahmud k pukayoor
- 8,500
1
vote
1 answer
Which is the correct way of reporting?
Which one is the correct way to report a past episode?
They wanted that Joe must not be around when they go shopping.
They wanted that Joe must not be around when they went shopping.
user343802
- 69
1
vote
1 answer
Time frame Past Perfect and Past Simple in 1 sentence
Is it correct to use the sentence 'He knew the answer to the question because he had studied really hard for this test.' as an example to referring to the time indication of Past Perfect and Past Simple in 1 sentence? Thank you in advance!
This came…
David
- 67
1
vote
0 answers
sequence of tenses in quoting others
Ryan et al. (2005) added that in-depth assessment of the family was important, and this could be best achieved by considering all points of view and by exploring a broad range of family functions, including how they had been communicating, solving…
Nicole
- 23
1
vote
2 answers
Sequence of tenses
When reading Waugh's 'Vile Bodies' I came across the following sentence:
"It was the first time that the party was given in an airship".
It would seem to me that in the second clause there should have been past perfect. Could anyone possibly…
gerseyli
- 36
1
vote
1 answer
How to apply "sequence of tenses" to "would like"
This is a sentence in direct speech:
They asked me: "Which of these books would you like to take".
I need to rewrite it in indirect speech. And obviously I have to apply sequence of tenses rule.
My idea is:
They asked me which of these books I…
Nick
- 113
1
vote
1 answer
sequence of tenses (was/were vs had been/have been)
Which is better?
The protocol was signed last week after all punch list items were fixed up.
or
The protocol was signed last week after all punch list items had been fixed up.
daniela
- 11
1
vote
2 answers
Sequence of tenses?
Can you please help me with this thing called "sequence of verbs"? From what I'm understanding, if I use "would," I have to keep "would" throughout the sentence. Example: "I would go visit my cousin if he would come visit me as well."
But in a…
Pato
- 233
0
votes
1 answer
illogical sequence of tenses
Hello everyone:
I was watching a documentary about Scientology when I heard the following sentence, which, I believe, contains an illogical shift in tense.
“We have been hoping that someone would have left the Gold Base and say the abuse is still…
GrammarBoy
- 97
0
votes
2 answers
The sequence of uses tenses in complex or compound Sentence
The head of the audit is so obtuse that he had no inkling that funds were being ingenuously diverted.
My first question is, are there any grammatical mistakes in the sentence above, except spelling mistakes?
And my second question is, what is the…
