The success of the battle marked the turning point in the civil war.
In this sentence, why not use ‘mark’ instead of ‘marked’?
I think it should use ‘mark’ because this thing is a objective thing. It marked/marks/will mark the turning point.
-
Can you tell us where this sentence came from? (See Why you should cite your source on meta.)– J.R. ♦Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 14:20
-
@J.R. Page 337, last line, ISBN: 9787560056326– Y. zengCommented Apr 5, 2019 at 14:32
-
1Don’t tell me, tell the community– J.R. ♦Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 16:43
-
What do you mean by "objective thing"? The success of the battle can be replaced by it, and you can't say it mark – it's always it marks (in the present).– user3395Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 20:52
-
The ISBN appears to belong to a Chinese book of English vocabulary exercises, is that right? If so, more context is unlikely!– Anton SherwoodCommented Apr 6, 2019 at 23:43
|
Show 3 more comments
1 Answer
The success of the battle marks the turning point in the civil war.
[the civil war is not yet over. The time is the present.]
The includes the use of the present tense as historical present. Historical present is merely using the present tense for the past tense (given in sentence two below) and is used in some history and literary contexts.
The success of the battle marked the turning point in the civil war.
[the civil war is finished. The time is the past.]
-
+1, I agree except for the historical present in which present can be used without having the meaning you mentioned. Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 15:13
-
Turning points tend to be decided or identified after the event, and thus are generally in the past. Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 17:32
-
Battles are only a "success" for one side, aren't they? Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 18:13
-
@LucianSava From the point of the storyteller, the time is the present, or rather, the situation is described as if it were happening at the present moment.– user3395Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 20:47
-
@userr2684291, I agree that tipically, from the point of the storyteller, the time is the present, but More recently, analysts of its use in conversation have argued that it functions not by making an event present, but by marking segments of a narrative, foregrounding events (that is, signalling that one event is particularly important, relative to others) and marking a shift to évaluation. Commented Apr 5, 2019 at 21:59