Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[sabrinak]

Hello,


I'm confused with the following sentence.

He plays his role so well that you would think he was a real actor.


I think here "plays" has to be changed into "played." Right or wrong?


Thank you SO MUCH all the time.

[Mister Micawber]

.
No need to change if he is still playing the role at the time of utterance. Why do you think it is necessary? Because of 'would'? Look at it this way:

He plays his role so well that you would [if you saw his performance] think he was a real actor.
.
_________________
"I really do not know that anything has ever been more exciting than diagramming sentences." � Gertrude Stein
...............
Canadian-American who teaches English for a living at Mr Micawber's