1

Why is the last sentence in the passage below, "Last year he's MVP", written in the present tense?

'Hey, Ding Dong,' he calls. 'Who won the ball game?'
'Brooklyn wins it in a romp, fourteen to three.'
'Yeah? Great. Who pitched for Brooklyn?'
'How-d'ya-call-it? I forget his name. How-d'ya-call-it.'
'Oh, Howdoyacallit pitched! He's a good pitcher, that Howdoyacallit. Last year he's MVP.'

— A Portrait of a Young Man Drowning by Charles Perry

Improve this question
10
  • 3
    The contraction for "he was" is also "he's"
    – L. Scott Johnson
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 11:02
  • 9
    @L.ScottJohnson No, it is not. There's no contraction for "he was."
    – alphabet
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 11:21
  • 1
    You'll find that that quoted section gives an example. Another: "She's here yesterday, gone today. I wonder if she was in any pain." -- Patricia Anne Phillips, Last Bride Standing
    – L. Scott Johnson
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 14:16
  • 1
    @L.ScottJohnson You should post that as the answer. "He's" is pronounced /hiːʌs/ or /hiːəs/ when it means "He was". Likewise, /ʃiːʌs/ or /ʃiːəs/ for "she was".
    – Greybeard
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 17:30
  • 1
    @ alphabet: absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. I was born in an area that had the dialect /hiːʌs/, /ʃiːʌs/ version. Unfortunately, there are few written examples that are unambiguous. (I dare say DH Lawrence used it more than once in his mining series.)
    – Greybeard
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 18:09

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

You could interpret this as a case of the historical present, in which the present tense is used when narrating past events. In this case, though, it's likely just the result of speaking very informally.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    "Brooklyn wins it in a romp, fourteen to three" a few lines previous also seems to be historical present.
    – Stuart F
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 18:47
  • @StuartF I seem to recall hearing someone call the historical present the "football coach tense."
    – alphabet
    Commented May 29, 2023 at 21:48
0

It's not necessarily present tense. The speaker could be using "he's" as a non-standard contraction of "he was" (if so, it might be pronounced slightly differently to convey this), along the same lines as the non-standard "Howdoyacallit".

According to comments by Greybeard on the OP, "He's" would be pronounced /hiːʌs/ or /hiːəs/ when it means "He was". Likewise, /ʃiːʌs/ or /ʃiːəs/ for "she was"

See also another example from Patricia Anne Phillips in Last Bride Standing where "she's" is used in the past tense:

She's here yesterday, gone today. I wonder if she was in any pain.

(Similar to your selection, that selection is also a character's speech and may reflect non-standard usage by that character)

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .