撰写学术文章时，我们常需要借由引述他人的意见和研究结果来进行讨论，强化自己的论点或推翻反面的论点。以下几个范例中，黑色部分是引述句（reporting clause），红色部分则是被引述句（reported clause）：
Hofstede (1996) argues that people in individualist countries are encouraged to be self-reliant and independent.
Mattila and Patterson (2004) contend that Western customers are more likely than Eastern customers to seek compensation when they perceive a sense of unfairness.
引述句中引述动词的时态选择
现在式：
- 引述他人的意见和看法
Haythornthwaite (2001) suggests that finding information is among the most common online activities.
Granovetter (1973) maintains that social networks are a common source of information.
- 引述法规的内容
The Convention on the Rights of the Child prescribes that state parties shall take all appropriate measures to protect children against all forms of discrimination or punishment.
过去式：
- 引述他人观察到、实验或调查得出的特定结果
Ohanian (1991) investigated the effects of a celebrity’s attractiveness, trustworthiness, and expertise on an individual’s intention to purchase products endorsed by the celebrity and found that the perceived expertise of the celebrity was the only factor that significantly affected the intention to buy the endorsed products.
现在完成式：
- 引述内容非单一文献
Studies have shown that people decide on the person they seek information from based on what they know of the person as well as the person’s knowledge and skills (Borgatti and Cross, 2003; O’Reilly, 1982).
Bettinghaus et al. (1970) and Harvey and Hays (1972) have found that authoritarian people are more influenced by information sources with high credibility.
被引述句中引述动词的时态选择
现在式：
- 被引述的内容是普遍真理或事实
The UK National Health Service (2022) revealed that smoking cigarettes is the largest risk factor for lung cancer.
- 被引述的内容为较广泛、笼统的叙述
Ohanian (1991) found that using celebrities as spokespeople for brands is a common advertising approach.
Koçak et al. (2007) confirmed that different cultural conditions lead consumers to different brand evaluations.
过去式：
- 被引述的内容涉及特定研究的发现、观察或实验结果（通常会有更多细节提供，如：研究的对象、人口、数据等）
Hsieh (2004) reported that brand value calculated based on brand associations for 19 car brands varied significantly across consumers in 16 countries.
在被引述句的动词时态选择上，其实两种时态的使用情况差异并不大。在不确定怎么做，陷入两难时，可以试着运用这一条规则：当被引述内容为笼统和广泛时，较适用现在式；当被引述内容较特定和详细时，则适用过去式。
