I'm confused when saying something happened in the past, I know the basic rule for using the past tense, like,
I went to the church yesterday.
But it's always hard for me to write a complex sentence, like,
I talked with Joe about this the other day, we think/thought it will/would be nice to ask customer if they need/needed this product and how many, but this can/could wait until Sep. 10.
Could anyone help to pick up the right tense and provide some explanation.
Thank you.
Three Ways to describe the Meeting, the Decision, the Proposal
.A. Avoiding Tenses (the only tense reflects the time of the meeting)
A meeting was held last week to discuss a plan, to create product, to record thanks.
There is a meeting at noon today to discuss a new Y for next year, to reassess last year's results, and to evaluate current opportunities.
A committee will meet next month to discuss last week's barbecue.
.B. Using the Original Tense
In your example, the original wass 'It will be nice,' and 'Do you need this?'
I talked with Joe about this the other day; we think it will be nice to ask customers if they need this product and how many, but this can wait until Sep. 10.
.C. Tense Sequencing or Back-shift
It is perfectly acceptable to use your more formal account:
I talked with Joe about this the other day, we thought it would be nice to ask customers if they needed this product and how many, but we decided it could wait until Sep. 10.
but sequence is required in set phrases:(originally: Do you want to see...?)
He asked if we wanted to see the film.
('Will you be there?') He said he would.
and after 'whether' (originally, 'Shall we give him a hand?')
We wondered/ we discussed whether we should give him a hand.
There is of course more information on Wikipedia Sequence of Tenses and from Cambridge Grammar 'Reported Speech,' and 'Whether.'
There is also a good answer here: Q 240479.
