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Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Little confused about was and is

When you state a objective thing, should use was or is ?
for example
1. The people shown on Tv just now is (was) your boss?
2. The product I worked on before in that company is (was) a PC?

Thank you for your comments
  

Top answer

Objectivity can be maintained while expressing yourself in any tense! I'd match the tense to the meaning. In other words, if you want to state or ask something about the way things are now, use present tense; if you state or ask something about the way things used to be in the past, use past tense.

— CalifJim

  • Objectivity can be maintained while expressing yourself in any tense!
  • I'd match the tense to the meaning.
  • In other words, if you want to state or ask something about the way things are now, use present tense; if you state or ask something about the way things used to be in the past, use past tense.
  • Either is possible for your first sentence.
  • The second, from other past cues in your sentence ("work ed "before"), seems to indicate you are focusing on the past, and "was" seems to go better with that -- even though there's nothing grammatically wrong with "is".
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3 Answers
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Objectivity can be maintained while expressing yourself in any tense!

I'd match the tense to the meaning. In other words, if you want to state or ask something about the way things are now, use present tense; if you state or ask something about the way things used to be in the past, use past tense.

Either is possible for your first sentence. The second, from other past cues
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but my first sentence also has a past clue--right now ,how to explain it ? thx
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The idea in the first sentence is that "just now" means at the time of seeing the man on TV. That's a time cue for the time of watching TV. When the man you see on TV is now your boss, you say "is". When the man you see on TV is not now your boss, but used to be your boss in the past, you say "was".

Being your boss is a relationship that can change over time. Today he may be your bo
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