debate amongst grammarians over the appropriateness of the two types of sequence of tenses goes back as far as the 18th century. use of the attracted sequence sometimes leads to additional problems when the grammatical construction of indirect speech includes an incorporated quotation – that is, when an attempt is made (though using indirect rather than direct speech) to report the words actually spoken. for example, if a minister spoke the words "such a policy is not without its drawbacks", then a writer may attempt to report this as follows: