I asked if they allowed or allow dogs
I asked if they [allowed or allow] dogs
In the above sentence, does the tense of the verb 'allow' depend on whether I have already received an answer from them at the time of speaking? A teacher claims that it does. Specifically, he says that if I haven't gotten an answer yet, the present tense 'allow' is correct, but that if I've already gotten an answer, the past tense 'allowed' is correct. For example, he says it should be "allow" in 1, and "allowed" in 2:
1. I asked if they allow dogs but I haven't gotten an answer yet.
2. I asked if they allowed dogs and they said that they didn't.
But I don't understand why the tense of "allow" should depend on whether I got an answer or not. Please explain.
Top answer
anonymous But I don't understand why the tense of "allow" should depend on whether I got an answer or not. I, too, am puzzled by this interpretation of the choice of tense. I've never heard of this before.
- anonymous But I don't understand why the tense of "allow" should depend on whether I got an answer or not.
- I, too, am puzzled by this interpretation of the choice of tense.
- I've never heard of this before.
- Since the main clause has the past tense ( asked ), my first impulse is to advise students to use the past ( allowed ) in the following clause regardless of any reply received (or not) to the question.
- CJ
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anonymousBut I don't understand why the tense of "allow" should depend on whether I got an answer or not.
I, too, am puzzled by this interpretation of the choice of tense. I've never heard of this before.
Since the main clause has the past tense (asked), my first impulse is to advise students to use the past (allowed) in the following c
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