Please help me with this problem,thank you!
I'm confused by a sentence quoted from an article of The New York Times,July 3, 2012, which says “In what appeared to be a possible new hint of Iran's nuclear intentions if the Istanbul meeting ends badly, ...”
My qustion is ,why “appeared” not “appears”? It'll be very kind of you if you help me.

Question

Please help me with this problem,thank you!
I'm confused by a sentence quoted from an article of The New York Times,July 3, 2012, which says “In what appeared to be a possible new hint of Iran's nuclear intentions if the Istanbul meeting ends badly, ...”
   My qustion is ,why “appeared” not “appears”?  It'll be very kind of you if you help me.

Answer

The "possible new hint" apparently happened sometime in the recent past, so the past tense "appeared" is appropriate.  But it would also be common to use the present tense "appears" in this context, because the "possible new hint" is so recent.

Answers · 2

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