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My mother had decided that I have talent in language and literature...

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Anonymous  #457139  Wed, 26 Dec 07 10:33 AM

1) "My mother had decided that I have talent in language and literature, and opened my eyes to them."

2) "My mother had decided that I had talent in language and literature, and opened my eyes to them."

Which one is correct? The thing bothering me is 'I had talent' somehow feels like "I had it but now I don't", kind of idea, but in the context of the sentence structure this is not what it means, right? (I'm thinking 2) is correct).

  
Grammar Geek  #457196  Wed, 26 Dec 07 03:23 PM

Either one is correct, and I wouldn't assume that your talent no longer exists if you used "had." Rather, I would assume you were talking about something that happened in the past and then something else happened - you studied for five years, you went to a special school, you decided you hated studying and took up life as a surfer...

  
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