Relative clauses

Question

Hello everyoneCould you tell if both sentences below are correct?a. The is the doctor who treats the patients.b. The is the doctor who treated the patients.Is it OK, if the first part of sentence has a different tense from the second one?REGARDSJA

Clive · Accepted Answer

Yes.

But I hope you realize that the Simple Past and the Simple Present have different meanings.

CalifJim · Answer

Joseph ACould you tell if both sentences below are correct?
a. The is the doctor who treats the patients.
b. The is the doctor who treated the patients.

They are both wrong. Check out the words I've highlighted in red.

If you change the first word to "There" in both sentences, both will be correct.

a. & b. You are pointing at the doctor at this moment (or indicating him/her in some way, maybe by nodding your head in the direction of the doctor).

a. That doctor regularly treats some known group of patients, perhaps every day, perhaps every week, perhaps whenever they need treatment.

b. That doctor treated some known group of patients for some period of time in the past or during some particular past crisis when they needed the treatment.

It is completely permissible to point out a person now who did something in the past. Why not? Can't you do that where you live? Can't you say things like that in your own language?

CJ

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