illogical sequence of tenses

Question

Hello everyone:
I was watching a documentary about Scientology when I heard the following sentence, which, I believe, contains an illogical shift in tense.
“We have been hoping that someone would have left the Gold Base and say the abuse is still happening.”
I think the speaker of the sentence should have said: We have been hoping that someone has left the Gold Base and that they would/will tell about the abuse that is still happening.
Thanks

Elliot · Answer

That is a good idea for an alternative use. It is evident that the original sentence has left something out. Not unusual with people speaking.
I think what they were planing to say was "We have been hoping to find that someone would have left the Gold Base...".
They are combining two sentences in an incomplete way. This tends to leave tenses scattered about. Whether they had been, had, or are hoping matters little I think to the presence of the gold base.

illogical sequence of tenses

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