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Milky Posted 19 years ago
Linguistics Studies

is/was

0Which is best, "is" or "was", and why? 02br
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00"When I asked Joan why he'd divorced his wife just because she'd attacked his mother, he reminded me that blood was/is thicker than water."0-
  

Top answer

S. Joan is a woman's name)0-

— Nona the brit

  • S.
  • Joan is a woman's name)0-
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17 Answers
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0is.02br
02br
00It's an idiom 'blood is thicker than water', and you don't play with the wording of idioms.02br
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00Also, 'is' makes more sense anyway as it is still the case.02br
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00(P.S. Joan is a woman's name)0-
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0 is. "was" doesn't sound very good to me.0-
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0is.02br
02br
00It's an idiom 'blood is thicker than water', and you don't play with the wording of idioms.02br
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00Also, 'is' makes more sense anyway as it is still the case.02br
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01font00Thanks, Nona.02font02br
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00(P.S. Joan is a woman's name)02br
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0 OK, in English, Joan is a woman's name only. 0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Nona The Brit12cite10OK, in English, Joan is a woman's name only.12blockquote
10But a "man" may use it, right?02br
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050010id5
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0"When I asked Joan why he'd divorced his wife just because she'd attacked his mother, he reminded me that blood was thicker than water."02br
02br
00That sounds fine to me. The "was" seems to me to follow on in a natural sequence of tenses, though "is" seems fine as well.02br
02br
00Compare the above with:02br
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00"Whenever anyone as
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0Yes, I'd agree with Forbes: both are possible, "was" by the sequence of tenses, and "is" by the general nature of the statement.02br
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00MrP0-
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0I'm glad someone thinks "was" is possible as well. I would have said that both were ok, but when I saw Nona's and Marvin's replies I got worried... So in the end I think the same as MrP and Forbes 050010id1
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0<Joan is from Catalonia?>02br
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00Indeed he is.0-
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0 01blockquote
01cite10Forbes12cite12br
10"When I asked Joan why he'd divorced his wife just because she'd attacked his mother, he reminded me that blood was thicker than water."12br
12br
10That sounds fine to me. The "was" seems to me to follow on in a natural sequence of tenses, though "is" seems fine as well.12br
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