All Questions
Tagged with present-tense past-vs-present
11 questions
1
vote
0
answers
114
views
Using Past Simple versus Present Simple in a commentary for a documentary
I've been translating a commentary to a history documentary and I'm not sure if my choice of tenses is optimal. In Polish, just like in English, the Present Simple tense is occasionally used for ...
- 419
1
vote
4
answers
963
views
Which tense should be used for referring to a study in the past that continues until today?
I'm writing an academic article for journal publication. My field is social science, and the article is submitted to an American journal.
One of the reviewers suggested using the past tense ("were ...
- 111
1
vote
2
answers
340
views
Does/did for something you're continuing to do?
So the context is
A: I play the piano every night before I go to bed.
B: I thought I was/am the only one who does/did that
Because person B thought before that she was the only one who did it, but ...
- 11
0
votes
0
answers
43
views
Simple Present, Simple Past or Past perfect progressive? [duplicate]
Suppose if there's a web site which was out of service yesterday. And it's still down today. Which sentence below should I tell the web master?
The web site is down/(out of service) since yesterday.
...
- 153
0
votes
1
answer
73
views
What's the tense for remarking a thing happened in the past? [closed]
Shall I change
That Bilbo said he was a legendary burglar is really funny.
to
That Bilbo said he was a legendary burglar was really funny.
?
- 105
11
votes
3
answers
7k
views
To tell the name of a person I met in the past
I have a basic grammar question about the past tense. If I met a guy yesterday, which tense should I use about his name today?
For example,
"Yesterday I met a guy, his name is/was John."
- 113
2
votes
1
answer
2k
views
Referring to results in past or present tense [closed]
When I am reporting the status of some results, should I use past tense？ For example, would it be correct to say, when the test result was announced in the past, "Your test result was failed. I ...
- 129
1
vote
2
answers
2k
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 ...
- 8,766
4
votes
2
answers
1k
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 quoted example?
- 8,766
9
votes
4
answers
4k
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:
...
- 2,370
4
votes
3
answers
581
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.
- 1,333