Teacher Discussion Forums

Hello; I have a question related to grammar again Is this sentence grammatically corect? "You’ve observed that your customers are highly critical of the decoration of your store."or do I have to say
"You’ve observed that your customers were highly critical of the decoration of your store. "
I mean is it a rule to use past tense after present perfect because it is not in indirect speech (as far as I know)
I think this is a point I'm not very good at!!!!!!
I would be very grateful if you answered me thanks

If the situation still holds true, don't worry too much about whether to use WERE or ARE.

If, however, the situation (i.e. the customers being highly critical) is no longer true (e.g. the criticism arose and then subsided yearas ago), then it would be odd if not incorrect to use ARE. Unfortunately there aren't any explicit rules about when exactly the status of something changes from ARE to WERE, but when there is doubt over which to use, that is probably a sure sign that the choice is open/free between the two.

As for the use of present perfect, are you aware that simple past could also be used? And again there is little difference if the observation being referred to is more recent than remote in the current example's speaker's mind (but again, as the time between referring to the observation and the actual observation increases, so the likelihood that simple past rather than present perfect will be used increases).

I can find some posts that discuss reported speech, if you like (but they are more involved than my explanation here)...tell me if you want and feel up to them, and I'll post them!