Tagged Questions
0
votes
2answers
283 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
342 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 ...
