if you lemonade causes/caused headaches

[Will17]

Hello!

Is the use of the present simple correct here, please?

"What would you do if a TV documentary said that your lemonade causes /caused headaches? "

THank you

Will

[Huda-M]

I think that causes would come in the case the sentence is ''Lemonade causes headaches'', whereas if it is 'your lemonade' then it would be caused....... But 'your lemonade does not make sense to me....

-I'm not a teacher

[Hedwig]

Caused is the answer an exercise book would expect, as the simple past agrees with the first verb, said.

But I think there is a case to be made for the present tense too, in everyday speech at least, if your lemonade is still out there on the streets, adn people are still buying and consuming it.

-Not a teacher-

[5jj]

Caused is the answer an exercise book would expect, as the simple past agrees with the first verb, said.

But I think there is a case to be made for the present tense too, in everyday speech at least, if your lemonade is still out there on the streets, and people are still buying and consuming it.

I agree.

Some course books still seem to suggest that, when indirect speech is introduced by a verb in a past tense, there must be back-shifting. This is simply not true.