Grammar Geek  +  960909 Tue, 03 Nov 09 07:31 PM Okay. I saw that you had capitalized CAME and GOT and thought you were referring to them.   We can use the past for that meaning as well as the present, depending on when you made the observation.   So I dropped by the Andersons' the other day and saw [that] they were in the process of building a new deck. Looked great.   I see you painted the front hallway. It looks nice.   Grammar Geek Joined on Tue, Jan 10 2006 Veteran Member 19,683 Barbara, who answers in American English. My housekeeping skills attest to the truth of the second law of thermodynamics: Left to themselves, things get more and more random!

	Yoong Liat  +  967108 Tue, 10 Nov 09 09:47 AM "I saw that Jane came by yesterday." In this sentence "came" is the lexical verb of a subordinate clause hence it must show its relation to time, which in this case is past tense. "That" shows us that this is a subordinate clause and, in my opinion, using "that" is essential in this instance. I agree with Huevos.  Yoong Liat Joined on Mon, Sep 4 2006 Veteran Member 6,757 Tenses, Clauses, Past Tenses, Writing, Sentences