Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[lostin1800]

'A study by Market Reseasrch showed that 86 percent of American have "deep concern' about U.S. health costs."


I read it in a magazine. Will it be any different if you replace the 'have' with a 'had'?

[CP]

Yes, it would be different, because it would imply that now the percentage of people with deep concern is different.

The sentence could have been "A study by Market Research shows that 86 percent of Americans have 'deep concern' about U.S. health costs" because the study is new and the results should be valid for now.

The writer probably used "showed" rather than "shows" because, even if it is recent, the study must be in the past or else no one could read it yet.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[lostin1800]

Thanks!