oxford_guide_to_english_grammar

29 SENTENCES WITH MORE THAN ONE CLAUSE
PAGE 320
These are the main clauses and sub clauses.
Sentence 1
Main clause
Eventually we took off,
Main clause Sub clause Sub clause
but we had to go to instead of which meant a
Basle, landing at longer, and an
Zurich, added train journey.
Sentence 2
Main clause Sub clause Sub clause
Well, we hung about waiting for a to come
representative
Sub clause
and tell us
Main clause
and after an hour and
a half nobody came,
Main clause
so we took a taxi
Main clause
and went into Basle,
Main clause Sub clause Sub clause
and we decided to stay the because we'd
night there, missed the train.
Sub clause
what to do,
241 Tenses in sub clauses
1 Sequence of tenses
a
The verb in a sub clause is usually in the same tense as the verb in the main clause.
Here they are both present.
Even some people who have tickets aren't able to get into the stadium.
And here both verbs are past.
Even some people who had tickets weren't able to get into the stadium.
When Jemima appeared I saw immediately that something was wrong.
I came home early yesterday because I didn't feel very well.
We use the past (didn't feel) because we are talking about yesterday.
NOTE
Compare direct speech.
When Jemima appeared, I thought 'Something is wrong.'
b For the present simple in a sub clause of future time, • 77.
I'll ask Jemima when she gets here.