Unit 1 Sequence of tenses

By the term sequence of tenses is meant the relationship of tense forms of verbs in a sentence.

The verb of a subordinate clause is made to agree with a principal verb according to the following rules:

1. Principal verbs in the present or the future tenses take subordinate verbs in any tense:

He says he has to go/ will go / had to go.

He will understand that he has been in the wrong/ was in the wrong.

2. Principal verbs in the past-time tenses should be followed by subordinate verbs that denote past time (Past Indefinite, Past Perfect, Past Continuous or Future-in-the-Past):

He said he had to go/ would go.

He said that he had won.

He had tried hard in order that he might win.

3. If the subordinate clause expresses a general truth – a fact that is true for all time – a past tense in a principal clause may be followed by a present tense in a subordinate clause:

John said that Minsk is the capital of Belarus.

The rules of Sequence of Tenses are not characteristic of Russian, and these differences in the language systems cause some problems in translation. Cf.:

He said (that) Mary translate d Он сказал, что Мэри переводит

articles without a dictionary. статьи без словаря.

He said (that) Mary was translating Он сказал, что Мэри переводит

the article in her room. статью в своей комнате.

He said (that) Mary would give me Он сказал, что Мэри даст ему

the article when she translated it. статью, когда она ее