Who sings this song vs who sang this song

Question

We all know Michael Jackson is not alive.He died on June 25,2009.Suppose,I am listening to a song like "Beat it (by Michael Jackson)" with my friends and I don't know the singer.After the completion of the song, if I question my friends then what will be the questions:

1.Who sings this song? 2.who has sung this song?
3.who sang this song?
4.who is singing this song?

I am confused.Please get me clear.

David Hatton · Accepted Answer

I'll go through the options you suggested:

roky00711.Who sings this song?

2.who has sung this song?

3.who sang this song?

4.who is singing this song?

1. A question you can reasonably ask as the song is playing. Very common in natural English.
2. An odd way of putting it; it'd mean you want to know which artist(s) have performed this song and not who is singing the version you are listening to. You'd be asking about 'cover versions'.
3. Perfectly reasonable although if you are being pedantic you might prefer the present tense as the song is being sung right now, even though it is just a recording
4. This makes sense as a singer is indeed singing at this very moment, albeit via a recording. It wouldn't really get used much in natural conversation as it'd get abbreviated to 'who's singing this song?'
.

Who sings this song vs who sang this song

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions