He was expected to be released within 24 hours

[Xianyu]

Dominique Strauss-Kahn has been granted bail after being indicted by a grand jury on seven charges, including two counts of sexual assault. He will be kept under 24-hour armed guard at a New York residence while he awaits trial. He was expected to be released within 24 hours after a $1m bond is posted and processed. ------taken from http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001038704/en

Hi, everybody!

Could you please tell me why the simple past tense is used in the above sentence rather than a future tense: he will be expected to be released...

I remeber my teacher ever saying that if simple present tenses are used in adverbial clauses of time, then future tenses must be used in main clauses.

e.g. I will leave after he comes back.

Thanks in advance!
XY.

[Alan]

Hi,

An expectation suggests something will or is going to happen but the past simple is used here because this is what people were supposing would happen..

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Present Simple

[Xianyu]

[Beeesneees]

Hi Xianyu,

I'd say that the use of the past tense is correct, but the present tense 'is' is incorrect. 'Had been' would be my automatic choice to replace it.
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Cheers m' dears!

[Alan]

Hi Xianyu,

'Is posted' is a use here of the present simple when it states a fact. That makes it in a way fall outside the usual tense sequence.

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Progressive Forms

[Xianyu]

Hi Beeesneees and Alan,

Thank you so much! :)

[Esl_Expert]

Hi Xianyu,

Like Beeesneees, I'm not particularly happy with the combination of tenses used in that sentence. I'd be happier with one of these:

- He is expected to be released within 24 hours after a $1m bond is/has been posted and processed.
The expectations are current. The posting and processing of the bond is in the future. The word 'after' introduces a time clause and the simple present is standardly used to refer to the future.

- He was expected to be released within 24 hours after a $1m bond was/had been posted and processed.
This sentence could be looked at as either a reported speech sort of construction or as just a sentence about the past.
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"Only a man's character is the real criterion of worth." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt