Past tense or present tense
By seabeauty
@seabeauty (1480)
United States
October 11, 2007 12:41pm CST
When referring to someone in your past, do you say, "his name WAS" or do you say "his name IS".
I was just thinking of this girl I knew in second grade and I am 40 now, don't know if this person is alive or dead but if I were to describe her I would say, "I knew a girl in second grade that used to tease me and her name IS Sonja."
Is that proper to describe her in the present tense? I don't know if she is still alive so I say "is" just in case.
Does it matter?
Just curious. Hoping someone that is good at the English language could help me out here.
1 response
@peanutjar (5198)
• Canada
12 Oct 07
Hello,if you talk about someone long ago then its the past and you use "was".If its the present then you use "is".Eg:I knew a girl in second grade that use to tease me and her name was sonja".It does not matter if they are alive or not,its the time factor(past:WAS,present:IS,future:IS)that matters.:):)
