Conditional (He said that the crisis would deepen before it stabilized)

[Musicgold]

Hi All,

Why is the second part ( bold) in the following sentence in past tense?

'He said that the crisis would deepen before it stabilized.'

Can I say something like 'He said that the crisis would deepen before it stabilizes.'

Thanks,

MG.

[Alan]

Hi musicgold,

This is in fact an example of Reported Speech/Indirect Speech. The actual words said were: The crisis will depend before it stabilizes.

Usually we change both tenses as - will deepen to would depeen and stabilizes to stabilized

If the situation regarding 'stabilize' is still relevant now, you could keep that verb in the present tense.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
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