..he apologised for his comments, then the proceedings against him will be withdrawn.

[Tan Elaine]

Attorney General's Chambers yesterday told Mr Li that if he apologised for his comments, then the proceedings against him will be withdrawn. Mr Li has not done so," she added.

Can 'apologised' and 'will' be used together in the first sentence above? (The above is from a local newspaper.)

Thanks.

 

[Roman55]

I would prefer, 'if he apologised... the proceedings against him would be withdrawn.'


I take it that the Attorney General is called Chambers. If that is the case there should not be an apostrophe s on General. If this was a decision emanating from the Attorney General's chambers (unlikely) then chambers would not be capitalized. Either you have misquoted the paper or the paper is not proofread before going to print.

 

[probus]

No. The sequence of tenses is wrong.

If he apologized ... would be withdrawn
If he apologizes ... will be withdrwn

are both correct, and equivalent in meaning.

Apologized ... will is incorrect.