Verb Tenses on Describing Best Supervisor

Question

Please help. Which form of the verb is correct in the following sentences when describing your best supervisor? Thanks.

1. My boss in the previous company I worked for (is, was, has been) the best one.
2. I (admire, admired) him for his dedication to his responsibilities.
3. Also, he (is, was) very approachable.
4. That (is, was) the reason I consider him my best supervisor.

Mister Micawber · Accepted Answer

has been
admire
was
is

CalifJim · Answer

The boss at the company I worked for before this one was the best one.
I admired him for his ...
He was very ...
That is the reason I consider him ...

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks Mister Micawber and CJ for your replies. I believe both of your answers are correct but why are the differences?

I was wondering if using '...was the best one'' in the first sentence might mean he is not the best boss to me now, don't you think?

Using 'admire' in the second sentence, does it mean I admire him before up to now? While using 'admired' , would it mean I don't admire him anymore now?

Does the choice of tenses in the first two sentences here also need consistency like if I use 'has been' in the first sentence, I should use 'admire' in the second (both present); while if I use 'was' in the first, then 'admired' for the second (both past)?

CalifJim · Answer

1. My boss in the previous company I worked for (is, was, has been) the best one.
2. I (admire, admired) him for his dedication to his responsibilities.
3. Also, he (is, was) very approachable.
4. That (is, was) the reason I consider him my best supervisor.

AnonymousI was wondering if using '...was the best one'' in the first sentence might mean he is not the best boss to me now, don't you think?

was just matches the tense of worked. There is nothing in the sentence that implies you've had a change of heart about the ranking of the bosses you've had throughout your life.

AnonymousUsing 'admire' in the second sentence, does it mean I admire him before up to now? While using 'admired' , would it mean I don't admire him anymore now?

I took this to be a continuation of your narrative from the first sentence, so I'm continuing to match tenses. worked, was, admired. The word previous from the first sentence indicates that the man or woman in question is no longer your boss, but the use of admired, in my opinion, does not imply anything about your present feelings about him or her. If I say I was proud of you for something you achieved in the past, it says absolutely nothing about whether I am proud of you today. In the light of what happened between then and now, I may have changed my mind; I may not have. The use of was does not tell us what happened later or whether there was a change of mind.

This is strictly a tense-matching situation.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks CJ for your explanation. I see what you mean this is strictly a tense-matching situation.

But if we use has been, admire, was in my example as another suggestion, will this also be okay and give the same meaning?

Tense-matching aside, the use of 'admire' or 'admired' in my paragraph has no difference in meaning, do you think so?

CalifJim · Answer

1. My boss in the previous company I worked for (is, was, has been) the best one.
2. I (admire, admired) him for his dedication to his responsibilities.
3. Also, he (is, was) very approachable.
4. That (is, was) the reason I consider him my best supervisor.

AnonymousBut if we use has been, admire, was in my example as another suggestion, will this also be okay and give the same meaning?

Strictly speaking, any time you change the words, there will be at least a slightly different meaning, but you can communicate the same basic meaning with those choices, yes.

AnonymousTense-matching aside, the use of 'admire' or 'admired' in my paragraph has no difference in meaning, do you think so?

It is difficult to set tense-matching aside, but that seems correct to me. There is not a significant difference in meaning in this context -- just the obvious difference of focus on the time of your admiration.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

Thanks a lot, CJ.

You've really explained this clearly and now I understand.

Verb Tenses on Describing Best Supervisor

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