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SC 1000 | Q147 - tense sequence in complex/compound sentence

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SC 1000 | Q147 - tense sequence in complex/compound sentence

by agni_mba » Sun Sep 02, 2007 7:47 am
147. At a recent session, the French government has decided that Paris needs a second, larger opera house to complement the famous Paris Opera.
(A) has decided that Paris needs
(B) decided that Paris needs
(C) has decided that Paris will need
(D) decided that Paris has a need of
(E) has decided that Paris needed

Why is "B" correct?

To me "B" is incorrect since subordinate clause (Paris needs...) isn't a Universal truth, and therefore cannot be in Present Tense while Principal clause (Govt. decided...) remains in Past Tense.

"A" appears to be the best among the lot (though not correct independently)

Please throw some light.
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by Prasanna » Sun Sep 02, 2007 5:40 pm
IMO option B is concise and correct. I think option A and B do not vary on tense.
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by mayonnai5e » Mon Sep 03, 2007 5:39 am
B is the only choice with the correct tense. The clue is the introductory clause, "At a recent session." The clause implies the session occurred in the past and has ended. Thus the decision made by the French government occurred in the past and has been completed. This indicates the necessity of the Simple Past.

"Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind."

quoted from https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/simplepast.html[/url]
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by agni_mba » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:37 am
thanks mayonnai5e for your response.

i agree with what you say about the usage of past tense in the main clause. however, contention is around usage of different tenses in main and subordinate clause.

from what i know, if the main clause is in the past tense (which it is here), present tense in subord. clause is used only if the statement is a universal truth.
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by mayonnai5e » Tue Sep 04, 2007 7:53 am
agni_mba wrote:present tense in subord. clause is used only if the statement is a universal truth.
I've never heard of this rule before, but I'm a native English speaker and don't focus on the "rules" that much. The only other thing I can point out is that the fragment:

"that Paris needs a..."

is a restrictive clause because it restricts and defines the decision that was made by the government. So that rule you mentioned about the universal truth of a suborindate clause may not apply. I'm not really sure. Sorry.
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by Alchemist14 » Fri Sep 23, 2016 10:40 pm
agni_mba wrote:147. At a recent session, the French government has decided that Paris needs a second, larger opera house to complement the famous Paris Opera.
(A) has decided that Paris needs
(B) decided that Paris needs
(C) has decided that Paris will need
(D) decided that Paris has a need of
(E) has decided that Paris needed

]

Mitch or Marty,

Could you please explain this one.

B does not make proper sense. We would need 'decided Paris would need' rather than ' decided that Paris needs'. Otherwise C is a better option ,right?

Thanks,
Al
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