Today a question was asked in English language learners concerning tenses in a short sentence with multiple verbs. Basically it was, which is correct?
- I thought you wrote poetry.
- I thought you write poetry.
My answer (in summary) was that #2 sounded better. Some did not like the answer, thinking the usage to be ungrammatical. We even had a friendly chat about it. Lambie and Gustavson did their best to convince me. I ended up saying that the only basis I could fully agree with them is if tense agreement were grammatically required.
I'm not asking for up-votes (go down-vote the answer, and even this question, if you want), but I chose to escalate the question to the PhD and expert folks here to see if that grammatical requirement actually exists.
Lambie's final comment in chat was:
OK, call it agreement, that's fine. "I'm thinking I will buy some chicken." She was thinking she would buy some chicken. ...
People had to leave before I saw a difference and could comment on it. In his final example, the chicken buying was a single act. It happened yesterday and has nothing to do with today, except maybe dinner. However, if she happens to be a professional chicken buyer, then that remains true. The state of her professional chicken-buyerhood does not change with midnight.
Nor does the potential poet in the original question. So, today:
- I think you write poetry.
Tomorrow, what will be this thought about (tomorrow's) yesterday? Did I think you are an ongoing writer of poetry, or that you were someone who once wrote poetry?
So that is my case as to why two tenses might be grammatically used in a short sentence. Am I wrong?
