sequence of tenses

In some cases, though, a natural sequence of tenses is more appropriate.

This, however, requires use of the natural sequence of tenses, which might not be felt appropriate in the given situation.

For the linguistic sense see Sequence of tenses.

For use of tenses in indirect speech, see sequence of tenses.

A typical context in which rules of sequence of tenses apply is that of indirect speech.

In English, an attracted sequence of tenses (backshifting) is often used in indirect speech and similar contexts.

Sequence of tenses (grammar)

In some languages, including English, the tense of verbs is often changed - this is often called sequence of tenses.

The "shifting back" of tense as described in the previous paragraph may be called backshifting or an attracted sequence of tenses.

Indirect speech in Russian and other Slavic languages generally uses the natural sequence of tenses (there is no backshifting).

Debate amongst grammarians over the appropriateness of the two types of sequence of tenses goes back as far as the 18th century.

For further details, and information about other grammatical and lexical changes that take place in indirect speech, see indirect speech and sequence of tenses.

All the preterites are used as past equivalents for the corresponding present modals in indirect speech and similar clauses requiring the rules of sequence of tenses to be applied.

Compared with the other Romance languages, during its evolution, Romanian simplified the original Latin tense system in extreme ways, in particular the original Latin absence of sequence of tenses.

Starting with the utilitarian arguments: in the modern English curriculum there is no proper understanding of how language works, no need to acquire a decent grasp of sentence structure, the sequence of tenses, the use of cases and the like.

Non-indicative forms of the aorist (subjunctives, optatives, imperatives, infinitives) are usually purely aspectual, with certain exceptions including indirect speech constructions and the use of optative as part of the sequence of tenses in dependent clauses.

The rule for writers following the natural sequence of tenses can be expressed as follows: imagine yourself at the point in time denoted by the main verb, and use the tense for the subordinate verb that you would have used at that time.

And some have trouble with the sequence of tenses (not a trivial problem, I admit), yielding in this instance what might be called the "son-for-a-day" syndrome: I now know them to have been Mr and Mrs Powrie-Smith, and a chap I take to have been their son.

Sequence of tenses (known in Latin as consecutio temporum, and also known as agreement of tenses, succession of tenses and tense harmony) is a set of grammatical rules of a particular language, governing the agreement between the tenses of verbs in related clauses or sentences.