Was or is

The best movie I have ever seen is Shrek. ( Up until now shrek is the best of all the movies I have seen)

If you are talking about the past, you will say:

The best moive I had ever seen was shrek. (At that time shrek was the best movie you had seen)

The first version is correct.

"The best movie I have ever seen was Shrek" is incorrect. To mean, it was the best movie you had seen until some moment in the past, you need to change the 'have' to 'had': "The best movie I had ever seen was Shrek." Most probably, it is no longer the best movie you've seen.

Welcome to the Forums, expertspeak! We're always glad to have people who offer good answers.

Ohhhh. Thank yoou.

Follow up question if i say "The best movie I had ever seen was shrek", it means its not the best movie anymore right?

AnonymousThe best movie I've ever seen is Shrek.

or

The best movie I've ever seen was Shrek.

I prefer the first because the tenses match better: have (I've = I have) and is are both present. (was is past.)

You would be understood whether you said it one way or the other. Both are correct and mean the sa

This is kinda confusing.

So are you saying that "The best movie I've ever seen was shrek" is gramtically correct too?

Wouldn't the second one be wrong, as you've said, the tenses do not match?

The sentence in the past tense just means you are talking about something before a particular point in time in the past. Whether your opinion about the movie has changed or not is usually irrelevant.

CalifJim, I totally agree with you when you say either ways people will understand what you want to say because usually there is a context which tells you how to interpret a sentence even if

Sorry about confusing you! I still hold that the sentence with tense mismatch is grammatically incorrect.

However, if you were to actually speak the sentence, people will understand and respond to you correctly because in a conversation there is always a context that gives the listener more information. It's like you hear a non-native speaker speak English. I'm sure you understand them

I am actually writing an essay so I don't know how to start it.

Does it mean if i write: The best movie I've ever watched is Shrek, I should be writing in the present form.

If I write:The best I've ever watched was Shrek, I should be doing so in the past.

THANK YOU SO MUCH

Ohhh. Thankyoou. I get it now.

My mom's getting so mad at me for asking her again and again. I was just writing an essay so I wanted to know.

I'll just use "The best movie I've ever watched IS Shrek"

THANK YOU ALL.