last day (15 days later) » 

Feeds
Feeds
20:34
0
Q: the tense of the verb in a subordinate clause

Kim Hui-jeongQ1. "He graduated from Havard last year. he majored in philosophy. And yesterday, Sarah told me that he (had also majored/ also majored) sociology." Can I also use 'also majored' instead of 'had also majored' not concerning the tense of its main clause('told'), but simply matching the tense with ...

subordinate-clauses
Stockfish
Stockfish
I think "has also majored" sounds better in the given context.
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
Frequently asked doubts; and it still keeps coming. Have we failed to clearly answer, or are we swimming against the current of conventions...? There is a clash of modern grammar with the conventional one.
Stockfish
Stockfish
Proviso: If his 'majoring in sociology' is linked to the last year itself (and the Harvard), then you may say "Sarah told me that he also majored in sociology. " The pluperfect version doesn't seem to fit in well here.
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
@Stockfish, Yes, because perhaps, this is one of the most frequently asked doubts.
I was referring to the frequency of doubts asked on the agreement of verbs in dependent and independent clauses.
Shoe
Shoe
@Ram Pillai. It is better to think of the 'clash' as being between the grammar that is typically taught to English learners and the grammar which they experience in naturally occurring language contexts. It is unfortunate if learners are led to believe that there is only one correct grammatical construction. In the present case the past simple, present perfect or past perfect are all acceptable.
Lawrence
Lawrence
20:34
@RamPillai Outside of Indian English, those are usually not called “doubts” - they are “questions” or “queries”.
Xanne
Xanne
@RamPillai It’s frequently asked questions, not frequently asked doubts. You don’t ask a doubt.
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
@Shoe, I didn't intend to say that there is only one correct answer, but that 'there has been a lot of doubts being asked on this'. You may agree to it, I think.
Kim Hui-jeong
Kim Hui-jeong
Sorry for causing any fight(?), guys. ( -.-);;;;;;;
Shoe
Shoe
@RamPillai. I do agree on the frequency of such questions. But I wasn't sure what you mean by the clash between modern grammar and conventional grammar.
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
@Shoe, Yes, I am not a native English user. For the 'question or queries' turning doubts, that credit may be given. :)
Kim Hui-jeong
Kim Hui-jeong
20:34
But thanks for your advanced knowledge. (^.^)
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
@KimHui-jeong, Absolutely no fight; but more of understanding.
Kim Hui-jeong
Kim Hui-jeong
Then can I say that one should not use 'also majored' in the ones like the sentence above at academic tests?
Shoe
Shoe
Your sentence is an example of reported speech. Some teachers and tests may expect you to show that you understand backshift (in this case, the shift from the past simple in direct speech to the past perfect in reported speech). You will need to ask your teacher about this. (Backshift is also called the sequence of tenses)
Stockfish
Stockfish
Apparently, Shoe is replying to Kim Hui-Jeong's comment here, @Ram Pillai.
Ram Pillai
Ram Pillai
@KimHui-jeong, "...had also majored." refers to a distant past, unlike '..majored'. You know the context. For me it looks like, "Yesterday Sarah told me that he also majored..."
@Shoe: Deleted my comment that was wrongly placed, as pointed out by Stockfish.

last day (15 days later) »