Breakdown of O guia afirmou que este meridiano indica a longitude de zero graus.
de
of / from / by (means of transport) / wearing (attire)
zero
zero
este
this (+ noun)
que
that (conjunction)
Questions & Answers about O guia afirmou que este meridiano indica a longitude de zero graus.
Why is indica in the present tense even though the guide spoke in the past (afirmou)?
Normally, in reported speech, a past tense reporting verb like afirmou makes the reported verb shift back a tense to the imperfect, which would be indicava. However, because a meridian's longitude is a universal, unchanging scientific fact, we do not need to backshift. It can stay in the present tense as indica.
Could we still use indicava instead of indica here?
Yes! While you are allowed to keep universal truths in the present tense to emphasize that they are still true, standard backshifting is never strictly wrong. Saying O guia afirmou que este meridiano indicava a longitude de zero graus is also perfectly natural and grammatically correct.
Why is it O guia when the word ends in the letter a?
Why do we need the preposition de in longitude de zero graus?