thought about what is going on

[vpriest]

Hi teachers!

Sentences:
(A) The government official thought about what is going on in another country and explained why it matters.
(B) The government official thought about what was going on in another country and explained why it mattered.

What is going on in this case can be wars or other major events.

Questions:
1) Is (A) grammatically correct?
2) Can we still use (B) even though what is going on is still continuing to happen?

Thank you!

 

[Tarheel]

The first sentence is about something that's currently taking place. The second is about a past event.

Have you not found the "Thank" button?

 

[5jj]

(A) The government official thought about what is going on in another country and explained why it matters.

That is possible, though it is more common to backshift the tenses in indirect speech to was and mattered.

(B) The government official thought about what was going on in another country and explained why it mattered.

That is fine about something that is currently going on.

 

[5jj]

The second is about a past event.
If it were about a past-time event, the speaker would be morel

Not necessarily. It is more likely to be about a current event. If it were about a past event, the forms would be had been going on and had mattered.