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Starstuff Posted 19 years ago
Grammar

Tense consistency

0"I went to my friend's apartment which 01b00is02b00 only a half-hour-drive from my home."02br
02br
00A (seasoned) native English-speaker insisted that I had to use "was" instead of "is" for the sake of tense consistency. Is it right to use "is" if the distance between my home and my friend's home hasn't changed? Thanks!0-
  

Top answer

0To me, you are correct. 02br 02br 00For example, we can report 01i 00The teacher said, "The earth is round" as:02i 02br 02br 001. The teacher said that the earth is round.

— Yoong Liat

  • 0To me, you are correct.
  • 02br 02br 00For example, we can report 01i 00The teacher said, "The earth is round" as:02i 02br 02br 001.
  • The teacher said that the earth is round.
  • ('is' because it is a fact that the earth is round)02br 02br 002.
  • The teacher 01b 00said02b 00 that the earth 01b 00was 02b 00round.
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6 Answers
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0To me, you are correct. 02br
02br
00I think your friend has got mixed up with reported speech.02br
02br
00For example, we can report 01i00The teacher said, "The earth is round" as:02i02br
02br
001. The teacher said that the earth is round. ('is' because it is a fact that the earth is round)02br
02br

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0 01blockquote
01cite10Yoong Liat12cite10To me, you are correct. 12br
12br
10I think your friend has got mixed up with reported speech.12br
12br
12blockquote
10The same "rules" apply to reported actions and events.02br
02br
00"I got a taxi to the Heathrow and the diriver was Po
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Starstuff12cite10"I went to my friend's apartment which 11b10is12b10 only a half-hour-drive from my home."12br
12br
12blockquote
10Hi Starstuff02br
02br
01i00A half-hour-drive02i00 should be 01i00a half-hour drive02i
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0 See my quotations from the great grammarian Jespersen here:02br
02br
050040pid224523
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0 Thanks a lot everyone! 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Starstuff12cite12br
10"I went to my friend's apartment which 11b10is12b10 only a half-hour-drive from my home."12br
12br
10A (seasoned) native English-speaker insisted that I had to use "was" instead of "is" for the sake of tense consistency. Is it right to use "is" if the distan
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