By Clauses, Past tenses

Re: "I would be surprised..."

I was concentrating on the choice between were and was (subjunctive vs. indicative), and I neglected to address the choice between was/were and is (past vs. present). You're referring to the use of past throughout once the main clause introduces the past tense. Hmmm. Defend it? That's...

Re: I thought a spider is/was an insect

My apologies for introducing a joke! The "universal falsehood" reference is a complete joke! It doesn't matter whether what is reported is universally true or unversally false. What's important is that in the speaker's mind it is universally (or eternally, if you wish)...

Re: subject of subordinate clause

#1 John who took my pen is here. #2 John who is wearing my jacket is here. How firm a grasp would you like to obtain? (I know I shouldn't have written that, but I couldn't resist.) The thing that works for me is to take out the the subject and the "verb" and see if it still...

Re: What did he say? What was it he said?

The auxiliary verb carries the tense. did shows the past. (Otherwise it would be do or does.) You can't indicate tense twice in the same clause. (*What did I said?) The main verb shows the past tense ONLY when no auxiliary verb is present to do the job! (I said so.) CJ

Re: Modals in conditional sentences

The answer is here: Typically, when the accompanying clause is an "if" clause, the historical present tense forms go with present tense verbs, and historical past tense forms go with past tense verbs. However, "could" and "might", meaning "may"...

possible tense difference

Hi, Please tell me the rationale for the use of present tenses rather than past tenses, which seem logical to me since the event took in the past. We brought in two grand pianos, and they played a piece that starts as a funeral dirge and ends in a triumphant refrain that reflects Jesus'...

Re: was/were conditional sentence

The position of the condition within the sentence is irrelevant to the was/were issue. If I were not sure, I would not tell you this.I would not tell you this if I were not sure.The problem is that the was > were change only applies to the main verb of the condition clause. Any other...

Re: Past perfect

Yes. It is totally wrong. The past tense of a verb of mental activity or opinion (e.g., thought, believed, knew, understood, hoped, felt) is virtually never followed by a subordinate clause in the present perfect tense. The combination sounds exceedingly awkward to a native speaker. ...

Re: Condtitional tense

is totally dependent on context, rather than the tense of any verbs in the if clause? And would that make a difference between your example and mine? Best regards, - A. Edit, note - Amy offered an analysis of "If I am" as being equal to "Whenever I am" in a different...

Re: keeps them well hidden

The verb smoke is omitted at the end. I would rather (I'd rather) means I prefer. So I'd rather you didn't means I'd rather you didn't smoke, that is, I prefer that you do not smoke. (Note that here again, a would goes with a past tense form, even though the meaning is in...