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I.

I thought he was swimming - I thought he swam for a while but found out it was a lie

I thought he is swimming - I thought he was swimming now, but he's not.

I thought he swam - I thought he once swam (don't know when).

I thought he has swam - I thought he has already swum recently (a couple of minutes ago).

I thought he had swam - I thought he had already swum recently (a couple of hours ago).

I thought he ... but i changed my mind, and now i dont think in this way

If I can't frame my thoughts in this way, how should I do it? Specify proposals, add new ones? But is it possible to designate meaning with the help of time?

tchrist
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Bodakh
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    Please clarify your specific problem or provide additional details to highlight exactly what you need. As it's currently written, it's hard to tell exactly what you're asking. – Community May 21 '23 at 14:47
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    @YosefBaskin If you think has swam is “correct”, you need to get a new spell-checker. :) – tchrist May 21 '23 at 14:55
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    Anybody who thinks now i dont think is “correct” needs to fire his spell-checker. – tchrist May 21 '23 at 14:57
  • @tchrist You got me. – Yosef Baskin May 21 '23 at 14:58
  • We cannot tell for sure what your actual question for us really is, but it appears to be somehow related to the nuances provided by various combinations of tense and aspect, particularly in subordinate clauses governed by a main verb expressing belief. This is a large topic with further unexplored combinations —possibilities that you haven't even listed here. Your question is too general, and a full and complete answer to it would be much too long for our format here, the stuff of books, courses, and lectures. Edit down to a single example sentence and ask us about just that one. – tchrist May 21 '23 at 15:27
  • I thought he was swimming can mean "I was under the impression that he is swimming now, but he isn't." (The past tense was goes with thought even though you are talking about the present time.) – Kate Bunting May 21 '23 at 17:33

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