Thursday, April 30, 2015

grammar - What tense should I use to describe something in the past but probably is still true?


The title may be a bit confusing. See the below example:




The movie (was/is) so good.



The simplest guideline on deciding which tense to use, past tense or present tense, to describe an object comes down to whether the description was only true that that time or is true even to the present point of time.


But now we talking about literary work(movies,books,etc) of which quality tend to stay the same over time, which tense should we use?



Answer



As far as I know, both (was/is) are possible.


If you say "the movie was good," it would mean that you pictured yourself watching the movie, and at that time you thought it was good. However, whether you are still thinking it is good is unclear, and many might interpret it as: you don't think it is good anymore.


On the other hand, if you say "the movie is good," it is clear that you currently think it is good. However, it is unclear whether you think that way from the start or not. (It's possible that you might hate it at first, and then developed your favor toward it later.)


Disclaimer: I'm a non-native speaker, so you might need second opinions from others.


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