Thanks one and all for the responses. A lot of food for thought here... I really appreciate it.
Hi Rhadin: The example you've provided clearly illustrates your point, and it makes sense the way you've described it. It highlights exactly what I suspected was wrong with the sentence, (and the whole reason I posted the question). My only problem is that even though the sentence appears to be syntactically correct... it just kind of sounds wrong now, (to my admittedly very amateurish ears). For some reason my brain still wants to replace that "is" with a "was", even though that would be again mixing past tense with present tense. Perhaps it's just a case of re-training my slow brain correctly
On another note, a few of you have raised what is probably better off for another discussion, or no doubt already discussed in depth somewhere in these forums. That being the use of a dash. Just when I think I get my head around it, it's once again pointed out to me as incorrectly used. Is there a clear, concise, fundamental rule that's agreed upon by all good writers on when and where to use a dash? Or is this something that sits in the realm of opinion? I've googled it a fair bit but am still having trouble finding a "black-and-white" rule.
Again, thanks to all for the feedback.
m.