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Blah Posted 14 years ago
Grammar
Tense Question
Which of the following would be the correct sentence:
"Who would you say I am?"
"Who would you say I was?"
I'm looking at would as being past tense, so I would think was would be appropriate. On the other hand, perhaps was only works in the case of "Who would you have said I was?"
Thanks in advance!
"Who would you say I am?"
"Who would you say I was?"
I'm looking at would as being past tense, so I would think was would be appropriate. On the other hand, perhaps was only works in the case of "Who would you have said I was?"
Thanks in advance!
Top answer
Why are you looking at 'would' as past tense? Did the listener have the habit of saying who you were?
- Why are you looking at 'would' as past tense?
- Did the listener have the habit of saying who you were?
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5 Answers
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Why are you looking at 'would' as past tense? Did the listener have the habit of saying who you were?
00
Ah, silly me. Would of course is not past tense.
For more context, this is the whole quote in question:
"And if you had to guess? Who would you say I am/was?"
I must have been confused coming from the previous sentence.
And, well, I'm still confused. Which of the two examples is correct, and why?
Is the tense of the sentence some type of conditional? I'm leanin
For more context, this is the whole quote in question:
"And if you had to guess? Who would you say I am/was?"
I must have been confused coming from the previous sentence.
And, well, I'm still confused. Which of the two examples is correct, and why?
Is the tense of the sentence some type of conditional? I'm leanin
00
I don't see that it makes any difference whether you say 'am' or 'was'. The listener will make his guess in any case.
The underlying structure is:
If you had to guess, you would say that I am/was XXXXX. (Second conditional.)
'was' stays in the time frame set up by the tenses in the sentence.
'am' pulls out of that time frame and expresses the idea in 'real time'.
The underlying structure is:
If you had to guess, you would say that I am/was XXXXX. (Second conditional.)
'was' stays in the time frame set up by the tenses in the sentence.
'am' pulls out of that time frame and expresses the idea in 'real time'.
00
Ah, okay.
So, it's more dependent upon what I'd like to convey with the sentence than anything, is that what you mean?
This isn't even my quote; I saw this posted on another site (the version ending with "am") and immediately thought it should end with "was," but just wanted to make sure.
So, it's more dependent upon what I'd like to convey with the sentence than anything, is that what you mean?
This isn't even my quote; I saw this posted on another site (the version ending with "am") and immediately thought it should end with "was," but just wanted to make sure.
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BlahI saw this posted on another site (the version ending with "am") and immediately thought it should end with "was,""was" is a reasonable choice, but as stated earlier, so is "am". This one is not worth worrying about.
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