I realized I will have to quit my job

[chameleon82]

I read the following phrase somewhere on internet. " I realized I will have to quit my job to score good in GMAT Test".

I think "Will" is not suitable here. I need expert opinion on this.

Thanks

 

[SoothingDave]

Why do you think it's not suitable?

 

[chameleon82]

" I realized " is simple past tense, so I think there should be "would" instead of "will".

 

[Tarheel]

It is true that "realized" is past tense. But the person is talking about a (hypothetical) future event when he/she says "I will have to quit my job".

~Ron

 

[SoothingDave]

If the speaker is looking back on a past time, when he did have to quit his job, then he would use "would."

In the original sentence, the quitting is still in the future.

 

[emsr2d2]

"score good" is the glaring error in that sentence.

 

[chameleon82]

But if I use "will" with simple Past then it violates the "Sequence of Tenses" rule. I am getting confused because of this rule.

 

[Roman55]

There is nothing wrong with the sequence of tenses. You realized in the past that you will have to do something that you haven't yet done. Nevertheless, using would is not wrong even if you haven't quitted your job yet. Perhaps you have no intention of quitting your job, but it would be necessary to do so if you wanted to score well in the test.

 

[Tdol]

But if I use "will" with simple Past then it violates the "Sequence of Tenses" rule. I am getting confused because of this rule.

It's not a conditional sentence. You can realise something in the past about the future that has not happened yet. The logical way to handle this is to use the past for the past and the future for the future.

What is this sequence of tenses rule? I would focus on the sequence of events. If you find yourself confused by a rule because you see many cases where the rule doesn't apply, then the rule may need refining. It is by refining rules and focusing that we get to the truth.

 

[PaulMatthews]

I read the following phrase somewhere on internet. " I realized I will have to quit my job to score good in GMAT Test".

I think "Will" is not suitable here. I need expert opinion on this.

Thanks

You are right. Compare:

[1] "I realise I will have to quit my job ..."

[2] "I realised I would have to quit my job ...".


The original utterance, [1], has present tense "will". [2] has the backshifted preterite "would", and is the appropriate form here.

 

[emsr2d2]

It's not impossible to use "I realised" with "will".

John: How are you?
Sarah: Not very happy, actually.
John: Oh no! Why?
Sarah: Yesterday, I realised I will have to quit my job when I go to university as a mature student in September.
John: Oh, can't you study part-time and work as well?
Sarah: No, all my time will be taken up with study.

Note the difference in:

Sarah: Yesterday, I realised I would have to quit my job if I wanted to go back to university as a mature student.

 

[chameleon82]

You are right. Compare:

[1] "I realise I will have to quit my job ..."

[2] "I realised I would have to quit my job ...".


The original utterance, [1], has present tense "will". [2] has the backshifted preterite "would", and is the appropriate form here.

Thanks Paul. So " I realised I will have to quit my job ..." is the wrong version?

 

[PaulMatthews]

Thanks Paul. So " I realised I will have to quit my job ..." is the wrong version?

Backshift is quite normal in constructions where one clause is embedded within a larger one containing a preterite (past tense) verb, so stick with "would" and you won't go wrong.

 

[GoesStation]

So "I realised I will have to quit my job ..." is the wrong version?

Never type a space after an opening quotation mark. It's always wrong.