New answers tagged past-tense
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past and present tense confusion: recounting a past event, of which something is still relevant in the present
In this context, "was" is correct and the more natural choice, though "is" is also correct.
By default, when talking about noticing or discovering something that happened in the ...
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past and present tense confusion: recounting a past event, of which something is still relevant in the present
The usage of 'was' is correct as it indicates the incident has happened before, and the usage of 'was' does not change your observation - that is the fake product is still fake.
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Why is Past Perfect used here?
It means meeting Strickland precedes being in Paris a fortnight.
Here, "had been" is the past form of the present perfect "have been". To understand the logic, imagine telling this ...
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Why is Past Perfect used here?
The met in the main clause is correct, because the author is pointing to a past event from present perspective.
That event happened at a time defined by the when clause.
There was a point in time when ...
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It was the best ever vs it is the best ever?
Use "is the best ever" if the thing is currently happening, or ongoing.
"This salad is the best ever" (current)
"Peaches are the best fruit ever" (ongoing)
"Reading ...
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It was the best ever vs it is the best ever?
A meal in a restaurant:
This is the best ever. [as we enjoy it now.]
That was the best ever. [when we refer to the meal in the past]
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It was the best ever vs it is the best ever?
"Ever" means "of all time", but the exact meaning changes with the tense.
When used in the present, "ever" includes up to the present. When used in the past, it may ...
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Betraying her boyfriend "was/is" what she did - what is the difference?
This is slightly tricky to explain. As a general rule, 'is' is for the present tense and 'was' is for the past tense. But your example is something of an exception - the person is presently defining ...
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Past perfect tense without following events
The traffic sign was replaced - workmen came along, took down the old sign and installed a new one.
The traffic sign had been replaced - the person telling the story noticed that there was a different ...
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Future in the past including SHOULD
When talking about an obligation or recommendation made in the past for future action, ``should'' can be followed by a base verb.
In your example, the instruction was given at the beginning of the ...
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“She played for a while” vs "She had played for a while"
Past perfect is generally used when you're describing an action that has completed at the time you're referring to. So the article uses it when talking about Kim having moved to LA, because that was ...
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“She played for a while” vs "She had played for a while"
I'm not sure it needs "explanation", because "had played" would also be reasonable. I suppose you might interpret the (probably unconscious) choice to shift from past perfect to ...
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Accepted
Ever since he was a child + PAST PERFECT/PAST SIMPLE
Only the first one is good. "Ever since" indicates a span of time that continues to and includes the time of the verb, and simple past can only be used with times that finished before the ...
- 37.3k
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The simple past tense confusion (II) : Old connection, with a working exchange from the 1940s, shows or showed?
"shows" is correct.
The simplest form of the sentence is:
Old Connections shows (something).
The phrase, "a telecommunications museum in Seattle" describes what "Old ...
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The simple past tense confusion (II) : Old connection, with a working exchange from the 1940s, shows or showed?
I agree with your teacher; I would use shows. The sentence is talking about a museum and what it shows to anyone who visits it now. (The fact that the museum's name, Old Connections, is in the plural ...
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what is the difference between the past progressive form and simple past form in this sentence?
A person has an asking price.
What are you asking for that car?
What was he asking for that price?
It's almost an idiom. The was asking suggests duration to the amount the man wanted for the car.
They ...
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The simple past tense confusion, why use "was" instead of "is" here, "the classic 1984 was a broader critique of totalitarianism ..."?
When talking about a document (book, article, etc.), you can speak of it both in present tense ("it says this and that") or in past tense ("it said this and that). In present tense, ...
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The simple past tense confusion, why use "was" instead of "is" here, "the classic 1984 was a broader critique of totalitarianism ..."?
In that part of the video, the speaker is talking about the history of novels on totalitarianism, not about the novels themselves. So, he talks about what the book was when it came out, not what its ...
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The simple past tense confusion, why use "was" instead of "is" here, "the classic 1984 was a broader critique of totalitarianism ..."?
Idea: "the classic "1984" was a broader critique of totalitarianism, media, and language".
Just because a book such as this one is described as "was a broader critique of X, Y ...
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Past Simple with Never?
To say, "I haven't realized that" literally means, "I (still) don't know that." In your example sentence, the speaker already knows that working in a restaurant is hard work, which ...
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