Timeline for Should I say "What I ended up doing is" or "what I ended up doing was"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
8 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
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| Oct 3, 2022 at 22:36 | comment | added | John Lawler | It doesn't make any difference. The is/was is a dummy inserted by the Wh-Cleft rule and doesn't refer to anything. The original sentence is I ended up restarting her phone, and that's past, so the tense of a dummy is irrelevant. | |
| Oct 3, 2022 at 22:35 | comment | added | Yosef Baskin | A fact in the does past not convert to the present case. In conversation, it's understood and fine. But correct it isn't. | |
| Oct 3, 2022 at 22:19 | comment | added | Tuffy | I agree with the first part. However, what do you think if this argument? If I am referring to the event as an established fact (something that is the case), then I write "What I ended up doing is restarting her phone". I THINK I can say, for example, that it IS a fact that I ended up restarting her phone. Or am I overthinking (or underthinking) it? | |
| Oct 3, 2022 at 22:09 | comment | added | Hot Licks | Both can be used. In this context "was" is probably the better choice. | |
| Oct 3, 2022 at 21:57 | history | edited | Cristalphase01 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
added 8 characters in body
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| Oct 3, 2022 at 21:56 | history | edited | KillingTime | CC BY-SA 4.0 |
edited body; edited title
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| S Oct 3, 2022 at 21:54 | review | First questions | |||
| Oct 3, 2022 at 21:58 | |||||
| S Oct 3, 2022 at 21:54 | history | asked | Cristalphase01 | CC BY-SA 4.0 |