Grammar-Quizzes › Verb Phrases › Verb Groups › Modals › Modal Agreement
Modal Agreement (backshifting tense)
Maintain timing relationships in embedded clauses
Backshifting in a subordinated clause
| MAIN CLAUSE | SECOND CLAUSE |
|---|---|
| BE | FUTURE EVENT |
Investors were excited about something. |
Apple will offer stock dividends. |
| SAID | FUTURE EVENT |
The company said something. |
It will make their system software available. |
| WISHED | FUTURE EVENT |
Investors wished something. |
It will succeed. |
| HAD | FUTURE EVENT |
No one had any idea about result. |
It will expand the use of the device. |
| STARTED | FUTURE EVENT |
Apple started advertising something to young people. |
They believed will buy their iPhones and iPods. |
| OPENED | FUTURE EVENT |
Apple opened its iPhone software to developers. |
There will be more applications available. |
| IF…HADN'T MADE | FUTURE OCCURRENCE |
Apple had not made their application software available. (hypothetically speaking) |
there will not be such amazing application development! |
| MAIN CLAUSE | SUBORDINATED CLAUSE |
|---|---|
| WAS | THAT + BACKSHIFTED VERB |
Investors were excited |
that Apple would offer stock dividends. |
| SAID | THAT +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
The company said |
that it would make their system software available. |
| WISHED | THAT +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
Investors wished |
that it would succeed. |
| HAD | HOW +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
No one had any idea |
how that would expand the use of the device. |
| STARTED | WHO +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
Apple started advertising to young people |
who they believed would buy their iPhones and iPods. |
| OPENED | THAT +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
Apple opened its iPhone software to developers so |
that there would be more applications available. |
| IF…HADN'T MADE | THEN +BACKSHIFTED VERB |
If Apple had not made their application software available, |
then there would not be such amazing application development! |
backshift (v./n.) – in grammar, a verb in a subordinate (dependent clause) is put into the time frame of the verb of the main clause. See deixis — adjusting perspective.
device – a small piece of equipment; an iPhone is a hand-held device.
Also see Who / Whom, That / Which, When/ Where
Verb Agreement
Backshifting Verbs
Backshifting Verbs – Past
| INDEPENDENT TIME FRAMES | |
|---|---|
When reporting an activity or event, the verb in the "reporting" clause may differ from the time of the action being reported. The temporal (time) relationship of the two activities is maintained when joining clauses. |
|
| CLAUSE 1 | CLAUSE 2 |
Jill is complaining. |
She has a lot of email this week. |
Jill says (something). |
She will have a lot of email next week. |
Jill tells me (something). |
She had a lot of email last week. |
|
She has had a lot of email this month. |
| ADJUSTED TIME FRAMES | |
|---|---|
The tense of the verb in the main clause governs the tense of the verb in the subordinated clause. That is, the verb tense in the subordinated clause is backshifted to an earlier time to maintain the order in which the actions happened. |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE – PAST | SUB CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Jill was complaining |
that she had a lot of email that week. |
|
that she would have a lot of email that week. |
|
that she had had a lot of email that week. |
|
that she had had a lot of email that month. |
reporting verbs – say, tell, add, etc. See Said Synonyms
time frame – a specific period of time
backshift – adjusting (changing) the time to maintain order in which events happened
Backshifting Verbs – Present and Future
| INDEPENDENT TIME FRAMES | |
|---|---|
In informal writing or conversation, the present or future tense in a subordinated clause is not backshifted. This is especially common for statements of general truth. |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE – PAST | PRESENT / FUTURE |
Jill was glad to hear |
that she gets two weeks of vacation. |
|
that she will get two weeks of vacation. |
Jill warned us |
that rumors travel fast. |
| ADJUSTED TIME FRAMES | |
|---|---|
In formal writing and reporting, the present or future tense in a subordinated clause is backshifted even if it is fact or general truth. (Would is not used with "general truths".) |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE – PAST | SUB CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Jill was glad to hear that |
she got two weeks of vacation. |
|
she would get two weeks of vacation. |
Jill warned us |
that rumors traveled fast. (general truth) |
traveled (US-Eng); travelled (Br-Eng)
Modal Agreement
Backshifting Modals
Backshifting modals in subordinated clauses
| PRESENT | |
|---|---|
Modals can be problematic when shifting to the preterit (past) because some modals have one meaning in the present form and another in the past. In fact, some modals do not have a preterit form. |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE – PRESENT | SUBORD CLS – MODAL |
Jill knows that… |
we will get there on time. |
|
we may get there on time. |
|
we might get there on time. |
|
we can get there on time. |
|
we should get there on time. |
|
|
|
we must get there on time. |
|
we have to get there on time. |
| PAST | |
|---|---|
Modals will, can, and may have preterit forms as shown below. The modals would, should, could, might and must do not. (Do not use would have, could have, should have or must have as backshifted forms.) |
|
| MAIN CLAUSE – PAST | SUB CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Jill knew that… |
we would get there on time. |
|
we might get there on time. |
|
*we might have gotten there on time. |
|
we could get there on time. |
|
*we should have gotten there on time. |
|
we should get there on time. |
|
*we must have gotten there on time. |
|
we had to get there on time. |
preterit – a verb form; past – a tense, a time-frame
get there – arrive there
*should have gotten – The past shifts meaning from a future obligation to a failed one.
*must have gotten – The past form shifts meaning from a past obligation to a conclusion.
Links to Modal Usage
| DEGREE OF POSSIBILITY TO ACT | DEGREE OF OBLIGATION/ FREEDOM TO ACT | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
possibility, future intent |
possibility, permission |
possibility, ability, potential |
obligation, expectation |
obligation, inference |
(had to) |
||||
A speaker uses a modal to express (1) the likelihood (possibility) of something happening or (2) the degree of obligation or freedom one has to act. (Swan 327)
inference – conclusion; making a guess by putting pieces of information together
Use the navigation bar at the top of the page to explore the various meaning of these modals.
Modal Backshifting
After said that and wish that
Said that – reported speech
| REPORTED SPEECH–PRESENT | |
|---|---|
The verb tense in quoted speech reflects the time at the moment of speaking. After a present tense 'reporting verb', the verb in the reported-speech clause is the same as the verb tense in the quote. |
|
| MAIN CLS – PRES | SUBORD CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Apple says |
they are releasing a new iPhone". "We are releasing a new..." |
The CEO says |
it is going to have several new features. "We are going to offer several..." |
The designer says |
the new battery will last longer. "The new battery will last..." |
| REPORTED SPEECH–PAST | |
|---|---|
After a past tense 'reporting verb', the verb in the reported-speech clause is the changed to its past form. If the verb in the quoted speech is already past, then it changes to the past perfect form. |
|
| MAIN CLS – PAST | SUBORD CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Apple said |
they would be releasing a new iPhone. |
The CEO said |
it would have¹ several new features. it was going to have several... |
The designer said |
the new battery would
last longer. |
¹A speaker is likely to switch to would have because It was going to have may be understood as a failed attempt.
Wish that – true and hypothetical contexts
| PRESENT | |
|---|---|
A verb such as wish affects the meaning of the verb in the subordinated clause. For true situations, the verb is backshifted to adjust to the time frame of the wish. Also see wish in Imperative clauses and before Infinitive clauses. |
|
| MAIN CLS – PRES | SUBORD CLAUSE |
Jill wishes |
*that we (will) get there on time. |
|
that we would get there on time. |
|
that we would have gotten there on time. |
| PAST | |
|---|---|
For hypothetical situations, the preterit has another use called irrealis. See Wishes. (I wish he were here. I wished he had been here.) The action in the subordinated clause (marked with a preterit verb form) did not happen. It is imagined. |
|
| MAIN CLS – PAST | SUBORD CLS – BACKSHIFTED |
Jill wished |
that we would get there on time. |
|
that we would have gotten there on time. |
|
that we had gotten there on time. |
* an imperative verb, plain form, is used after wish (a command).
* Wish — would have gotten – See Lost Opportunity vs. Upset
Also see Mixed Tenses: hypothetical situations in mixed time frames
Modal Backshifting
In other subordinate clauses
Which, that, who in modifying clauses
| PAST TENSE |
|---|
In 1984, the movie industry tried to block Sony from selling VCRs, |
The music industry had no idea |
The music industry never predicted |
| BACKSHIFT |
|---|
which it thought would decrease movie attendance . |
that technology would proceed so rapidly. |
who would be
able to pirate music files so easily. |
So that in cause-effect statements
| PAST TENSE |
|---|
The verb in a clause following so that and because backshifts to adjust to the time frame of the verb in the main clause. |
Apple released a new operating system |
*People with older phones were going to update their phones |
More people would want to upgrade their phones |
| BACKSHIFT |
|---|
*In a cause-effect statement, speakers tend to vary their use of will/would and be going to. That is, if the first clause includes was going to , the speaker will shift to would in the second clause. |
so that it would correct security . |
so that they would be able to take advantage of new features. |
because new features were going to get even better. |
Grammar Notes (Advanced)
Traditional and Linguistic Description
Advanced
Traditional and Linguistic Description
| TRADITIONAL DESCRIPTION | LINGUISTIC DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
"Reported speech refers to using a noun clause to report what someone has said. No quotation marks are used. If the reporting verb (the main verb of the sentence, e.g., said) is simple past, the verb in the noun clause will usually also be a past form…" (Azar 12-7) Also see Past Perfect (Azar 3-5) |
The backshifted preterit She said, "I have too many commitments. → She said she had too many commitments. She has never said she had too many commitments. Backshifting an original preterit. (Huddleston 3 §6.2.1) |
In indirect speech, a speaker's past tenses are often reported using past perfect tenses. The modals would, should, could, might, ought and must are usually unchanged after past reporting verbs in indirect speech. This is also true of needn't and had better. (Swan 278.3) |
Past tense in reported speech Reported Speech: A girl at work said she worked at Woolworths. ( (Biber 6.2.1.2) |
Works Cited
- Azar, Betty Schrampfer, and Stacy A. Hagen. Understanding and Using English Grammar. 4th ed., Pearson Education, 2009.
- Biber, Douglas, and Stig Johansson, et al. Longman Grammar Of Spoken And Written English. Pearson Education, 1999.
- Huddleston, Rodney D., and Geoffrey K. Pullum. The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language. Cambridge UP, 2002.
- Swan, Michael. Practical English Usage. 3rd ed., Oxford UP, 2005.
Practice 1
"The Missing Manual"
Decide whether to adjust the verb (or modal) to the time-frame of the verb in the main clause.
- Select the response from the list that best completes the sentence.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or the "Check 1-10" button.
Practice 2
"The Exam Nightmare"
Read the Context
I have a recurring nightmare. I dream that I am walking into a class where everyone is sitting and ready to begin an exam. I ask someone so that I can find out what the exam is about. The students cannot answer because it is a test — their lips are sealed. I remember a teacher saying, "There will be a test on Friday." I hear him speaking, but I can't hear what the test subject is. I think to myself, "If there is a test, shouldn't I know what it will be on?"
I take my seat and pull out a pencil. The teacher, who is smiling like the Cheshire cat, hands me a test page. The test question is "What is this test about?" I think to myself, "This is crazy. Shouldn't the question tell me what the test is about? Am I supposed to make up my own test question?" I look around and see that everyone else will be finishing soon. I wonder, "What can I do besides watch the clock going tick tock." Then my alarm clock rings. "Do I have a test today?"
Cheshire Cat – the cat known for his mischievous grin in Alice and Wonderland
nightmare (N) – very unpleasant dream
sealed (Adj) – closed tightly
test (general term) – quiz (not so important) exam (more important)
Change the paragraph above to the past tense.
- Edit the sentence(s) in the text box.
- Compare your response to the feedback by clicking the "Check" or the "Check 11-20" button.