The past-vs-present tag has no wiki summary.
-1
votes
1answer
86 views
“Has received” in past tense sentence? [duplicate]
"It occurred to me that no Korean has ever received the Nobel Prize in Literature." In this sentence, is "has received" right, rather than "had received"? Is it because "that" indicates continuation ...
4
votes
3answers
211 views
Do I use “argued” or “argues”? Past or Present? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?
Should I use present or past tense when referring to a (scientific) paper?
“has been raised” or “was ...
4
votes
2answers
260 views
Should I use the past tense for things that are still the same as before?
I am writing a personal statement for applying to a school, and I have a question about past tense. The following paragraph describes things that happened several years ago:
My school is located ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
“I didn't know that Mary was an adult education student” — does this imply she no longer is one? [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
He didn’t know where New Jersey was
“They knew what mercy is” vs. “they knew what mercy was”
Should we use past tense in "Lugo admitted he is the father"?
Present or ...
1
vote
4answers
77 views
Refer to the state of something “at the time”
I want to communicate this:
I didn't think the zoo would attract visitors in its state at the time.
What can I replace "state at the time" with? Perhaps something like "then-state"? I can't say ...
0
votes
2answers
236 views
Mixed tenses in a sentence [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
‘Had’ or ‘has’ to describe a past condition which is still present?
Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true
The employee was injured while ...
0
votes
3answers
684 views
“so that” + present/past tense [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Should I say 'What I wanted to say is' or 'What I wanted to say was'?
Which one is correct:
Introduce additional user interface widget so that it was ...
2
votes
2answers
269 views
Is the past tense correct in “Did you know Fred was a doctor?” [duplicate]
Possible Duplicates:
He didn't know where New Jersey was…
Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true
My wife and I were disagreeing about this today:
...
0
votes
2answers
285 views
Present or Past tense to describe a past condition which is still present?
Scenario: My friend John has a personality disorder, intensely paranoid for example.
Can I say:
There were three events last year that told me John had a problem.
or can I say:
There were ...
3
votes
2answers
892 views
“They knew what mercy is” vs. “they knew what mercy was”
They knew what mercy is.
They knew what mercy was.
Mercy is something that always exists so can I say is as in the above example?
4
votes
3answers
434 views
Tense change: previous actions on something that's currently true
I'm describing a situation that happened in the past. To explain it, I want to use a description that is both true now and true when the situation happened.
Specifically, I want something like:
...
5
votes
3answers
343 views
“He didn't know where New Jersey was”
I know the past tense carries the past tense in every dependent clause, but referring specifically to places or to things that are eternal, like the Earth, seems a bit weird and therefore we sometimes ...
4
votes
2answers
2k views
Should I say 'What I wanted to say is' or 'What I wanted to say was'?
Following Martha's advice I am splitting up a question Compound sentences, the punctuation and mooore.
Let's put what I said / wrote something in the past. And now I want to elaborate some key points ...
7
votes
1answer
2k views
Is it correct to say “What was your name?”?
Is it correct to say "What was your name?"? The reason I am asking this is, generally the name of the person will not change. One should say "What is your name?"
...
4
votes
3answers
297 views
Should we use past tense in “Lugo admitted he is the father”?
In this sentence, should the is be a was?
On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he is the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.
