I got corrected when I said:
When people heard the term “accounting graduate”, they usually say “Do you work at a bank?”.
I was told to use “hear” instead of “heard”. In this situation, why is “heard” wrong? I thought the rule was that if the main clause (They say “Y”) is in the present tense, the subordinate clause (When people heard) can be of any clause.
Thanks.
Answer
The frequency adverb ‘usually’ in the main clause refers the whole situation to the Present time.
So the Tense in the subordinate clause must be the Present Simple because there’s no other adverb of time.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Rob , Answer Author : user307254