Are these sentences natural? Jan 20

[musicgold]

Hi,

Are the following sentences natural to a native ear?

1. What did you think a librarian was/is going to suggest you? Barbie dolls?

2. For starters, ROF means Ring of Fire, a term commonly used in our community for…

3. Our presenter today is Peter Tui, President and CEO of KnowledgeBase, a Non-profit organization….

Thanks,
MG.

[emsr2d2]

Hi,

Are the following sentences natural to a native ear?

1. What did you think a librarian was/is going to suggest to you? Barbie dolls?

2. For starters, ROF means Ring of Fire, a term commonly used in our community for…
Sounds OK but it depends on how the sentence ends.

3. Our presenter today is Peter Tui, President and CEO of KnowledgeBase, a non-profit organization.

Thanks,
MG.

See above.

[billmcd]

See above.

emsr2d2: Agree, but I think "is going to suggest" could be used to inquire about a future action (in this case, a future suggestion)

[5jj]

I think "is going to suggest" could be used to inquire about a future action (in this case, a future suggestion)

Reported speech/thought does not require backshifting if the reported situation is in the future at the time of reporting, but, in this particular example, I think that 'is going to suggest' would be likely only if introduced by 'What do you think ...?'

[emsr2d2]

You're both right, of course. I saw the is/was choice, but I didn't notice that the beginning of the sentence didn't include "do/did" options.

What do you think a librarian is going to suggest?
What did you think a librarian was going to suggest?