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relative clauses and tense

Posted: Sun Aug 21, 2022 11:48 am
by dwnia
I just want to ask you whether I can use different tenses in the first and second part of relative clauses . For instance This affects/will affect people who made/have made /are going to make /will make coffee. Are they correct ?

Re: relative clauses and tense

Posted: Sun Sep 04, 2022 11:27 am
by Joe
As long as the verb and tense choice is logical, yes you can use different tenses:

This affects people who used to drink coffee.
This will affect everyone who drank coffee yesterday.
In the past this even affected people who had never drunk coffee.
This will affect everyone who is going to make coffee.

Re: relative clauses and tense

Posted: Tue Sep 20, 2022 3:13 pm
by worklifeenglish
Yes, you can use different tenses in the first and second part of relative clauses.

For example, you could say "The man who I saw yesterday is very tall" or "The man who I will see tomorrow is very tall." The important thing to remember is that the tense in the second part of the relative clause must agree with the tense in the main clause. So, if you're using a past tense in the main clause (like in the first example), then you must use a past tense in the relative clause as well (saw). If you're using a future tense in the main clause (like in the second example), then you must use a future tense in the relative clause as well (will see).

Hope this helps.

Thanks,
Work/Life English
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