Learn English and meet people on the world’s largest EFL social network

Using past tense to refer to the future

General English Grammar & Vocabulary,... » ESL General English Grammar Questions

We have partnered with TradePub to bring you free industry magazines and resources - no coupons or credit cards required!

Visit: englishforums.tradepub.com


Share this topic:
This question is Not Answered
Latest post Mon, Jun 30 2008 1:29 AM by CalifJim. 1 replies.
Suggest an answer | | |
Viceidol  +  534428 Mon, 30 Jun 08 01:01 AM

Hello, everyone. I saw a sentence in my grammar book:

It will be a great thing for future generations to know that I laid down my life here (I think it means "die in the battlefield") for the country.

What confuses me is: the main clause uses future tense, but in the "that-clause", "I laid down my life here" is a past tense. Since he is not dead while he speaks, why can it use past tense here?

Although the book says "we can use past tense to refer to something that may happen in the future", I've never seen this kind of grammar before. Could you tell me if that Is ture? Thank you for your help!

 
Viceidol
Joined on Wed, Jul 11 2007
Taiwan
Regular Member 540
, , ,
CalifJim  +  534430 Mon, 30 Jun 08 01:29 AM
I read it as a simplification of to know that I will have laid down my life ....  laid is not really the past (of the present), but the past of the future.

CJ 
CalifJim
Joined on Mon, Aug 2 2004
California
Veteran Member 22,400
"There are no facts, only interpretations" - Nietzsche
,
Welcome to Englishforums.com, the world's largest EFL / TEFL social network.

Places to start

Browse Englishforums

© MediaCet Ltd. 2009, v5.0.3614.32638. All content posted by our users is a contribution to the public domain, this does not include imported usenet posts.*
For web related enquires please contact us on webmaster@mediacet.com, status updates are available at status.mediacet.com.
*Usenet post removal: Use 'X-No-Archive'. You may not have understood that your posts would end up in the public domain. Please send proof of the poster's email, we will remove immediately.