Verona_82
Senior Member
- Joined
- Oct 15, 2010
- Member Type
- Other
- Native Language
- Russian
- Home Country
- Russian Federation
- Current Location
- Ukraine
Hello,
I'm reading a text from Business Benchmark, CUP, p.126, and don't seem to understand the grammar of one sentence. The context is as follows:
The study is based on interviews with managers at more than 720 manufacturing companies in America, Britain, France and Germany. The answers were given a score between 1, the worst, and 5, the best, in each of 18 categories. ... An American manufacturer that communicated financial targets by telling workers that they packed boxes until lunchtime to cover overheads and after that for profit scored a full 5.
Does 'that they packed boxes" mean "that they should pack boxes"?
Can the past simple be replaced with the subjunctive "...by telling workers that they pack boxes"?
Thank you.
I'm reading a text from Business Benchmark, CUP, p.126, and don't seem to understand the grammar of one sentence. The context is as follows:
The study is based on interviews with managers at more than 720 manufacturing companies in America, Britain, France and Germany. The answers were given a score between 1, the worst, and 5, the best, in each of 18 categories. ... An American manufacturer that communicated financial targets by telling workers that they packed boxes until lunchtime to cover overheads and after that for profit scored a full 5.
Does 'that they packed boxes" mean "that they should pack boxes"?
Can the past simple be replaced with the subjunctive "...by telling workers that they pack boxes"?
Thank you.