 Re: I hear that...
No it's not. Your meaning is permanent. You meant XXX before, you mean the same thing now, and you'll mean the same thing in two minutes time. It's not going to change. The first form verb expresses permanent facts - and so is usable here. The second form verb would only be used if the speaker wanted to emphasise what s/he meant at a particular time in the past. Compare :
a) I don't think he can be very happy. John, I mean.
b) When I said it wasn't necessary to be exactly on time, I meant I didn't mind if you were a few minutes late. I didn't mean three hours late! |