Grammar in Context

 Sequence of Tenses

Study the following paragraphs from the texts in this unit, paying special attention to the sequence of tenses. Reflect on its grammatical function in each sentence.

Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and I asked her what she had observed. “Nothing in particular,” she replied. I might have shown disbelief had I not been accustomed to such responses, for long ago I became convinced that the seeing see little. (Para. 7, Text A)

Anyone who has ever sat in a train as it rushes through a dark night will know that sometimes there are long minutes when the coaches slide smoothly along without so much as a shudder. All rustle and bustle cease and the sound of the wheels becomes a soothing, peaceful melody. Well, that is how it was as I sat there and thought how much I should like to see my old father again. And so I began to daydream: “Just think, if I were going to meet Father in Paradise! I seem to have heard of such things happening to other people — why, then, not to myself?” The train went gliding on but it had a long way to go yet, and my thoughts raced ahead of it. Father will certainly be sitting in a rocking chair on a veranda, with a garden full of sunshine and flowers and birds in front of him. (Para. 5, Text B)

英语时态呼应规律

在英语复合句中，从句中的动词时态，特别是宾语从句中的动词时态，通常在一定程度上受到主句中动词时态的制约，英语语法上称这种现象为时态呼应。

时态呼应一般应遵循下列几条原则：

一、如果主句中动词是过去时态，宾语从句中的动词时态通常是各种过去时态的一种，具体用过去时态的哪一种，则需要根据具体意义来确定。一般来说：

1．如果主句中的动作与宾语从句中的动作同时发生，则从句中的动词用一般过去时，或根据具体意义的需要用过去进行时。如：

         I knew he studied in this school．

          I knew she was studying English in this school in the years from 1985 to 1987．

2．如果宾语从句中的动作发生在主句的动作之前，则从句中的动词用过去完成时。如：

          He said that he had visited his old friends．

3．如果宾语从句中的动作在主句动作发生前已持续了一段时间，则从句中的动词用过去完成时或过去完成进行时。如：

    He said that the patient had been under his treatment for three years．

    I knew that he had been working here since 1960．

4．如果宾语从句中的动作发生在主句的动作之后，则从句中的动词用一般过去将来时，或过去将来进行时，或过去将来完成时。如：

    He said that they would read the book the following year．

    He said that they would be reading when she came．

    He said that they would have finished reading the book by the first of July．

   但是，如果宾语从句表示的是一般真理或习惯性行为，则不受时态呼应的限制。如：

    The students knew that water consists of oxygen and hydrogen．

    He told his teacher that he takes a bath once a week in winter．

二、如果主句中的动词是现在时或将来时，则宾语从句中的动词可根据意义的需要确定任何一种时态。如：

         I know that my brother has gone to Shanghai．

    I have just learned that he went to Changsha yesterday．

    I shall tell the doctor that my classmate vomited three times last night．

 

三、定语从句及表示原因、结果、比较、让步等的状语从句一般不受时态呼应的限制。如：

     Now he is reading the book which I bought the day before yesterday．

     He didn’t go out last night because he will have an examination tomorrow．

     His blood pressure was higher last year than it is this year.

 

四、主语从句、表语从句一般要受时态的限制。如：

      What he would do was of no importance．

      The question was what he would do next．

 

Now, do the tasks on Pages 167-168 in your textbook.