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Which of these is more correct for American English in a professional context:

Did you have any other prior marriage that lasted at least 10 years, or any other prior marriage that ended due to your spouse's death?

Do you have any other prior marriage that lasted at least 10 years, or any other prior marriage that ended due to your spouse's death?

(I might also be tempted to change some other other grammar in this sentence if I had my druthers, but for the scope of this question, please focus on the first word.)

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  • From the context of a native American English speaker, neither sentence is particularly appealing stylistically. Both sentences sound awkward. As you ask us to focus on the first word, I would choose "Do." "Do you have any prior experience with computers?" "Did you have any prior experience with computers?" The latter may be grammatically correct, but it sounds awfully awkward to me. "Were you" or "Have you" would sound far less awkward to my ears.
    – Lumberjack
    Commented Oct 4, 2013 at 20:32
  • In the context of the sentences provided, it is difficult for me to focus on the root question. "Did you" indicates that something was true in the past, where as "Do you" indicates that something is true in the present. Including the word "prior" in the sentence increases the degree of difficulty a bit, but I still feel like "Do" is the most appropriate choice when discussing "prior" things.
    – Lumberjack
    Commented Oct 4, 2013 at 20:38
  • If the marriage is over (which I think the use of prior confirms) then I believe that "Did" is the proper word to use. Once a marriage is over you no longer have it, you had it. If I was writing this sentence I would be temped to ask "Have you had..."
    – Phil
    Commented Oct 4, 2013 at 21:02
  • Why not "have you been married for more than 10 years before"?
    – Mikhail T.
    Commented Feb 2, 2018 at 16:38

1 Answer 1

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Prior marriage indicates that it is not a current marriage. That means it is not ongoing, but is something in the past.

Did you have means you had (owned, were in the state of, engaged in, etc.) but no longer have it. You had a prior marriage, but you do not have a prior marriage. Did you have is the interrogatory form of you had. It is correct.

Do you have would suggest that you currently have a prior marriage. You do not. It is prior, and you are no longer in it. Do would be incorrect.

It would be different if the question were phrased slightly differently, such as

Do you have a history of prior marriage ...

In that case, you presently do have a history that could include things that are concluded, such as a prior marriage.

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  • Excellent explanation of the technical underpinnings of why "Did" is correct. Thank you.
    – allquixotic
    Commented Oct 5, 2013 at 1:21

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