Lawrence H. Song Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
The tense in that-clause
"Rallying on Wednesday, McCain told supporters the U.S. will prevail in the war on terror."
The above is from a news article. I was taught that the tense in that-clause follows the tense of the verb in the main clause unless a that-clause is saying the everlasting truth. Like, "I told he was wrong" is right, and "I told he is wrong" is wrong.
The sentence from an article shows something different from what I learned. "McCain told supporters the U.S will~." Is it ok to use "will" even though the verb in the main clause is the past tense? I thought I should use "would" instead of "will" in the case.
The above is from a news article. I was taught that the tense in that-clause follows the tense of the verb in the main clause unless a that-clause is saying the everlasting truth. Like, "I told he was wrong" is right, and "I told he is wrong" is wrong.
The sentence from an article shows something different from what I learned. "McCain told supporters the U.S will~." Is it ok to use "will" even though the verb in the main clause is the past tense? I thought I should use "would" instead of "will" in the case.
Top answer
>I thought I should use "would" instead of "will" in the case. Not if you're using tense simplification (see Swan). Then you keep the original tense in the subordinate.
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>I thought I should use "would" instead of "will" in the case.
Not if you're using tense simplification (see Swan). Then you keep the original tense in the subordinate.
Not if you're using tense simplification (see Swan). Then you keep the original tense in the subordinate.
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A careful writer might use would, but simplification of the verb tense in subordinate clauses is a common phenomenon, so long as the meaning is not obfuscated.
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