Hello, everyone. My name is Alan Hynds. I work in Mérida, Mexico, as a translator. I have followed the discussions on this list for several days and am pleased to see that I may have found a place to pose some of the grammar questions that I often encounter and that aren't covered in any of the umpteen style manuals I have. Since I am not a grammarian, I imagine my main contributions will be precisely the questions I ask you, and which, I hope, will lead to discussion on points at least some of you hadn't previously considered. Now that I've introduced myself, and hoping that nobody will deem me an intruder, I thought I might as well get the ball rolling with a question: I am translating book on women in Mexico. In a paragraph explaining Aztec women's ogligations, the author uses the word "debía," which is the past tense of the verb "deber," or "must." I'm almost certain I've seen "must" used in the past tense in English, and my dictionary indicates that this is correct. Nevertheless, a professor I know tells me this is not recommended--that I need to use "must have," "had to" or something along this line. However, none of these alternatives work well in this sentence. My question, then, is: can you use "must" in the past, particularly since the context makes it clear that the author is referring to people who lived long ago? Here's part of the sentence: "Since women were an integral part of a group that had not taken the concept of individualism to its extremes [...] their behavior *must* reflect their respect for tradition." Anxiously awaiting your opinions, Alan Hynds