past or present?

Hi,

I believe it's said," I knew he was your brother."

So what abt: I have always known that he is/was your brother.

Was seems to sound so much smoother in this case. Am i correct?

Much depends on the context.

eg Are you speaking of a time in the past? 'When I met him 20 years ago, I knew he was your brother'.

I'm sorry, but i do not quite understand. You said that much depends on the context, yet both examples you gave contain only the past tense. Am I to take it that the past tense is always used to keep in concordance with "knew"?

Also, since you mentioned that using "was" in the Present Pefect is correct grammar, could you explain why?

Thank you so much =)

Hi,

i do not quite understand. You said that much depends on the context, yet both examples you gave contain only the past tense. Am I to take it that the past tense is always used to keep in concordance with "knew"?

When you say 'I knew that . . .', you are talking of the past so it's always correct to say 'I knew that he was your brother'.

CliveHowever, if the point in the past is quite recent (eg two minutes ago, or last week), it's acceptable, at least in everyday speech, to say 'is' instead of 'was'. You are stating it as a fact, eg After I read it in a book last week, I knew that Canada is a very cold country'.

Hi,
that's weird... I was always t

Hi,

Is it OK if we switch verbs? I have a suspicion that the original poster might be better off using 'learn' rather than 'know'. (First you learn, then you know).

Do you have similar concerns about 'As a child, I learned that the sun rises in the East'?

Just wondering whether you are "different"... Yes, in ways that you can't even be

CliveDo you have similar concerns about 'As a child, I learned that the sun rises in the East'?

Hmm, no, that's ok. Also, I think there's no problem with verbs like "tell, say, hear, find out, read..."
The verbs that sounds much better with a past tense when reporting are verbs like "think" and "know". I also invented a general rule or theory.

Was seems to sound so much smoother in this case. Am [ i ] I correct?

Yes.

CJ

Hi,

I knew he was your brother.

I have always known that he was your brother.

But would you say that these relate to a particular moment in the past?

Clive

CliveI knew he was your brother.

I have always known that he was your brother.

But would you say that these relate to a particular moment in the past?

Well, yes. Otherwise you'd say "I know he's your brother".
"I knew he was..." refers to some moment in the past. At that moment you "knew" or "didn't kn

the verbs that require a past tense are the ones that are strongly related to a particular moment in the past and people's feelings at that moment.

That rings true to me. Note the oddness here:

As soon as I saw the car drive up, I knew (then) that it is (now) you.

Unless it's possible to know the future, it's difficult to say that you knew or