Teacher Discussion Forums

"He admitted that he IS guilty."
I don't think this sentence is totally impossible.
If so, does it mean the following?
"He admitted that he was guilty and he surely
is guilty."
Thank you.

Is the capitalization of 'is' (IS) meant to represent the actual prosody of the man who's admitted his guilt, or are you just highlighting the use of simple present (as opposed to simple past)?

If it's meant to show prosody, well, the simple fact he's saying 'I am guilty' is as good as saying 'I AM guilty!' (or even, 'I am GUILTY!').

If, more likely, you are remarking on the use of simple present in the reported clause, that is no surprise and is ultimately not much different from saying 'He said he was guilty' (native speakers at least might well subconsciously prefer to use 'is', though).

Thank you very much.
Yes, I meant the latter, simply wanted to
highlight the simple present.
Itasan