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it "went" without saying?
Does the phrase "went without saying" even exist? When is it more applicable than "goes without saying"?Even in past tense: "the show was hosted by a famous star, it went without saying that show was a hit" is less convincing than "it goes without saying". The former seems to indicate that no one at that time said anything about the show being hit but it was known to people (that it was hit).

That doesn't make sense to me. Give relevant examples of "went without saying" in a sentence.

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    "It went without saying that a girl would never wear pants to school." Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 22:58
  • When you wrote your post, it went without saying that it went without saying was wrong. It deosn't seem to do so now. Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 23:42
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    It seems to me that it went without saying is the only correct form. To say it goes without saying ... only to then immediately say exactly the thing which is supposedly unnecessary is always odd.
    – toandfro
    Commented Jan 12, 2014 at 23:55
  • It goes without saying that the phrase "went without saying", is a statement of accepted presumption that something is tacitly assumed without anyone going about having to say that assumption. Commented Jan 13, 2014 at 3:00
  • Is all you asking is whether 'went without saying' is grammatical? If so, it is. Does it make sense? Sure. Maybe 'goes' is better. That's about it.
    – Mitch
    Commented Jan 14, 2014 at 1:09

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One legitimate usage I can think of for this form of the phrase is when the fact that is being emphasized would no longer be accepted as such; particularly if the speaker was trying to distance themselves from that assumption to their contemporary audience, for example:

"In the early twentieth century, it went without saying that a woman would want to find a husband and have children."

Or,

"At my last job, it went without saying that all of the good clients were Jim's exclusive territory."

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  • The criteria on the basis of which "went" should be used is not past tense ( like he did not feel the need of saying such at that time )but it's acceptance(no longer accepted as such).
    – Argot
    Commented Jan 16, 2014 at 15:50

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