[General] "I knew they had some sort of trick for memorizing vocabulary", I thought.

[Ferdie11]

Hi,
Are these sentences both correct?

"I knew they had some sort of trick for memorizing vocabulary", I thought.
"I know they have some sort of trick for memorizing vocabulary", I thought.

Thanks.

 

[BobK]

Re: "I knew they had some sort of trick for memorizing vocabulary", I thought.

:up: In my experience/speech community the first would be used after an event that involved learning that they had some sort of trick, and the second would be used to refer to an ongoing bit of knowledge you have.

b

 

[5jj]

Re: "I knew they had some sort of trick for memorizing vocabulary", I thought.

I agree with Bob K about the interpretation of the first sentence.
However, I would modify the second explanation to: the second would be used to refer to knowledge you had at the time of their demonstrating their vocabulary-memorizing ability.