Times

Question

Hello,I know that English a sentence should be structured using a single time, either past, present, or future. In most cases, I am ok with that, however sometimes I find it a bit confusing.Is it ok to use the following:The link you sent said that there is only one type of income taxOr should it be:The link you sent said there was only one type of income taxIn retrospective I would reconstruct this sentence all together, but I am generally asking about whether it was ok to use "there is" while the link was sent in the past?ThanksRon

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

Ron:

You can use "there is" to indicate that the factual situation has not changed (there is still only one type of income tax)

If the situation has changed, or you don't know (there is now more than one type of income tax), then use the past form (It was true at the time the link was sent - or at least reported at that time!)

Regards,
A-

s

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I know that English a sentence should be structured using a single time, either past, present, or future.

Are you suggesting that we can't say things like this?

I loved you yesterday, I love you today and I will love you tomorrow.

This is fine.

In most cases, I am ok with that, however sometimes I find it a bit confusing.

The present tense is fine if the statement is still true 'today'. So is the Past tense.

Is it ok to use the following:

The link you sent said that there is only one type of income tax

Or should it be:

The link you sent said there was only one type of income tax

In retrospective I would reconstruct this sentence all together, I don't really see any need to reconstruct it

but I am generally asking about whether it was ok to use "there is" while the link was sent in the past? As noted above, Present tense can be used if the link was sent 10 minutes ago, but Past tense is probably better if the link was sent 10 years ago.

Best wishes, Clive

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the answers, guys.

Just to touch on my comment of reconstructing the sentence, I think this would have been better to write:

In the link you sent it was said that there is only one income tax

In my mind this would be less ambigous as the "there is" is tied to the "was", which is in the past.

Back to the issue itself ... and just to put some context into my question, the link was sent to me yesterday. That is why I used "sent".

Both of you mentioned though that the "there is" is correct if the actual facts have not changed. It is most likely that the actual facts have not changed as tax rules hardly change on a daily basis, but there is no 100% gurantee that they have not changed, is there?
If I understand this right there is some leniency in English (again ..

, and using "there is"implies that there is only a slim chance, even no chance at all, that the facts have changed. The question is then when is lienency approporiate. For example, the sentence:

I saw Dan earlier and he said that you want to help me

To my understanding this sentence is completely incorrect. It should be "wanted" rather than "want", because I saw Dan only earlier and he indicated about the willingness to help only then, we can not know if "you" is still keen to help now.

So why leniency is not allowed here? Why is it wrong to use "want" if I think or believe help is still available?

Clive · Answer

Hi,

I saw Dan earlier and he said that you want to help me.

This is fine, for the reasons I stated before.

Best wishes, Clive

Times

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions