The tense of a verb in the subordinate clause should be in accordance with the tense of the verb in the main clause.<\/p>\n
Rule 1<\/b><\/p>\n
If the verb in the principal clause is in the\u00a0present or the future tense<\/b>, the verb in the subordinate clause could be in any tense, depending upon the sense to be expressed.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0says<\/i>\u00a0that she\u00a0is\u00a0<\/i>ill.
\nHe\u00a0says\u00a0<\/i>that she\u00a0was\u00a0<\/i>ill.
\nHe\u00a0says\u00a0<\/i>that she\u00a0will be<\/i>\u00a0ill.
\nHe\u00a0will say<\/i>\u00a0that she\u00a0is\u00a0<\/i>ill.
\nHe\u00a0will say\u00a0<\/i>that she\u00a0was\u00a0<\/i>ill.
\nHe\u00a0will say\u00a0<\/i>that she\u00a0will be\u00a0<\/i>ill.<\/p>\n
Rule 2<\/b><\/p>\n
If the verb in the principal clause is in the\u00a0past tense<\/b>, the verb in the subordinate clause will be in the corresponding past tense.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0knew\u00a0<\/i>that he\u00a0would win<\/i>.
\nShe\u00a0told\u00a0<\/i>me that she\u00a0had been\u00a0<\/i>ill.
\nHe\u00a0was\u00a0<\/i>so scared that he\u00a0could\u00a0<\/i>barely stand.<\/p>\n
A past tense in the principal clause may be followed by a present tense in the subordinate clause when the subordinate clause expresses some universal truth or some habitual fact.<\/p>\n
Copernicus\u00a0proved\u00a0<\/i>that the earth\u00a0moves<\/i>\u00a0round the sun.
\nThe teacher\u00a0told<\/i>\u00a0the boys that union\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0strength.
\nHe\u00a0told<\/i>\u00a0me that the Hindus\u00a0burn\u00a0<\/i>their dead.<\/p>\n
A past tense in the principal clause may be followed by a present or future tense when the subordinate clause is an adverb clause expressing place, reason or comparison.<\/p>\n
He\u00a0failed\u00a0<\/i>because he\u00a0is<\/i>\u00a0weak in English.
\nA great city once\u00a0stood\u00a0<\/i>where now\u00a0lies\u00a0<\/i>the village of Rajgir.<\/p>\n
When the subordinate clause is an adjective clause, any tense required by the sense may be used.<\/p>\n
Yesterday I\u00a0met\u00a0<\/i>a man who\u00a0sells\u00a0<\/i>hats.
\nYesterday I\u00a0met<\/i>\u00a0a man who\u00a0will sell\u00a0<\/i>me a hat.
\nYesterday I\u00a0met\u00a0<\/i>a man who\u00a0sold\u00a0<\/i>me a hat.<\/p>\n
In sentences where the subordinate clause is introduced by the conjunction of purpose\u00a0that<\/b>, the following rule is observed.<\/p>\n
The verb in the subordinate clause must be expressed by\u00a0may<\/b>\u00a0if the verb in the principal clause is in the present or future tense. The verb in the subordinate clause must be expressed by\u00a0might<\/b>\u00a0if the verb in the principal clause is in the past tense.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0study\u00a0<\/i>that I\u00a0may\u00a0<\/i>pass.
\nI\u00a0will study\u00a0<\/i>that I\u00a0may\u00a0<\/i>pass.
\nI\u00a0studied\u00a0<\/i>that I\u00a0might\u00a0<\/i>pass.
\nI\u00a0eat\u00a0<\/i>that I\u00a0may\u00a0<\/i>live.
\nI\u00a0will\u00a0<\/i>eat that I\u00a0may\u00a0<\/i>live.
\nI\u00a0ate\u00a0<\/i>that I\u00a0might\u00a0<\/i>live.<\/p>\n
A future tense is not used in subordinate clauses beginning with\u00a0when, until, before, after\u00a0<\/b>etc., if the principal clause is in the future tense.<\/p>\n
I\u00a0shall\u00a0<\/i>tell you when he\u00a0comes<\/i>. (NOT I shall tell you when he will come.)
\nI\u00a0shall<\/i>\u00a0wait till you\u00a0return<\/i>. (NOT I shall wait till you will return.)<\/p>\n
A past tense is used after such expressions as\u00a0if only, as if, it is time, wish that.<\/b><\/p>\n
If only\u00a0<\/i>I\u00a0had\u00a0<\/i>a prettier face.
\nI\u00a0wish<\/i>\u00a0he\u00a0would come<\/i>.
\nIt is time\u00a0<\/i>you\u00a0started\u00a0<\/i>working.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The tense of a verb in the subordinate clause should be in accordance with the tense of the verb in the main clause. The sequence of tenses in a complex sentence Rule 1 If...<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[251],"tags":[2451,1390],"class_list":["post-74359","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-grammar","tag-complex-sentence","tag-sequence-of-tenses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74359","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74359"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74359\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":74360,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74359\/revisions\/74360"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74359"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74359"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/perfectyourenglish.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74359"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}