Mixed time frame in a sentence

Question

Hi everyone,I am struggling with the idea of "mixed time frame" in a sentence and by that I mean there are more than one tenses in the sentence. Please refer to the simple made up example shown below.(Imagine there are three people : John, Kenny and Jeffrey and it is Monday today)John:  Jeffrey told me on Saturday that he will go abroad on Wednesday. Kenny: Wow cool!!!  Is he going on a trip?                   ...... (the day ends)(It is now Tuesday and Jeffrey is supposedly going abroad tomorrow)Jeffrey: I am going to university tomorrow. I have two lectures to attend.Kenny:  I thought you were/ are going abroad tomorrow.Should the tense for "be" be the past or the present tense?  It is not a reported speech where we need to perform backshift on verbs in the clause. It is something different from the original expectation. What grammar is this called if I want to google it?Would you please also give me a hand on checking my post for any grammatical mistakes?Thank you very muchKenny

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

KennyLuKenny: I thought you were going abroad tomorrow.

It is backshifted. "Think" is saying something to yourself inside your head, so it is a kind of reported speech.

CalifJim · Answer

KennyLumixed time frame ... sentence

These are correct and sometimes necessary. For example, we remember in the present, but by the definition of 'remember' the only thing we can ever remember is events in the past:

I remember (present) when we went (past) to Disneyland.

The same is true for the opposite — 'forget'.

No one can forget (present) where they were (past) when Kennedy was shot (past).

KennyLu Jeffrey told me on Saturday that he ~~will go~~ he is going abroad on Wednesday.

Correct as shown. (We would use 'is going' instead of 'will go' in the given context.) Here we combine the past (told) with future time expressed by the present tense (is going). In this case Jeffrey has not yet left to go abroad at the time this sentence is uttered.

This pattern can also be used for an 'immediate report', i.e., a report of what was said very soon after it was said. We often add 'just' in this case.

Linda just told me that she's getting a new car.
I just heard that they're closing the Vanguard Theater downtown.

Compare:

Jeffrey told me that he was going abroad in a few days, but he had to cancel because of a death in his family.

Here we say 'was going' because the time when Jeffrey was supposed to leave has already passed when we say this.

Note, however, that 'thought' and 'knew' are almost invariably followed by the past tense or a clause with 'would'.

Fran knew that Steve (had) lied to her.
Ed thought that Sally was going to be angry about it.
Nobody thought that the bomb would explode so soon.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

KennyLuby that I mean there are more than one tenses in the sentence.

Correction:

by that I mean there is more than one tense in the sentence.

The expression 'more than one X' is always regarded as singular.

CJ

Mixed time frame in a sentence

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