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Anonymous Posted 11 years ago
Grammar

was

Which of the following sentences would be correct, contextually?

a)"What was the name of your former school?"
b)"What is the name of your former school?"
  

Top answer

Either would work. I would be inclined to use What was the name... , but one thing that might cause me to think about the best way to phrase the question is that one school I attended has since changed its name.

— Blue Jay

  • Either would work.
  • I would be inclined to use What was the name...
  • , but one thing that might cause me to think about the best way to phrase the question is that one school I attended has since changed its name.
  • You could avoid the problem by saying Which school did you attend?
  • or Name of the school you attended (if it is a question on a form).
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3 Answers
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Either would work. I would be inclined to use What was the name..., but one thing that might cause me to think about the best way to phrase the question is that one school I attended has since changed its name. You could avoid the problem by saying Which school did you attend? or Name of the school you attended (if it is a question on a form)
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And if the person's former school still exists and hasn't changed its name since, then it'd be safe to use 'is', right?
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Yes. You wouldn't be expected to find out if the school is still there and using the same name before asking the question, so is would normally be a safe choice. If you used was it would be equally well understood what you wanted to know.
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