See, I'm really confused about which tense I should use in the following paragraph:
Christopher Reeve is a famous Hollywood actor. Reeve was also an experienced horseback rider. However, in 1995, he suffered serious injuries and ___ now paralyzed. Reeve ____ unable to use his arms and legs. He ___ around in a motorized wheelchair. He also ____ a neck support. At first, he could not eat solid food, but now he can. Reeve ___ a strong support system. His loving family and friends ___ there for him. During his hospital stay, his wife, Dana, visited him and often brought along their young son, Will. One of his Hollywood friends ___ comedian Robin Williams.
Should I use past or present tense? I mean, it's not like he stopped being friends with Robin Williams or lost his 'strong support system' after he got better... Oh, and the text uses 'is' for the first sentence, so I assume this was written before his death.
Hmm, what got me confused was that the paragraph is talking about his experience at the hospital...
Christopher Reeve is a famous Hollywood actor. Reeve was also an experienced horseback rider. However, in 1995, he suffered serious injuries and is now paralyzed. Reeve is unable to use his arms and legs. He gets around in a motorized wheelchair. He also wears a neck support. At first, he could not eat solid food, but now he can. Reeve has a strong support system. His loving family and friends are there for him. During his hospital stay, his wife, Dana, visited him and often brought along their young son, Will. One of his Hollywood friends is comedian Robin Williams. So, does that sound right?
Oh, is this like an assignment that you're filling in the blanks? I thought you had written the paragraph and were wondering which tense to use... If it's just filling in, yeah all present.
I was going to say that that paragraph could probably say the same thing in like five less sentences (by joining sentences) and read a whole lot better, but since it's just fill in the blanks nevermind. >_>
No, you'd use all past tense and change your sentences accordingly. You cannot refer to a dead person using the present tense. If he was still alive, you could write it as you did in the above post... but since he's dead you should be using all past tense.
From: Raka_Putra | Posted: 9/3/2011 12:14:14 AM | #010 Yeah, I have to fill in the blanks.
Gotta go with present then. Thanks, everyone!
I might need more help later though...this is part 3 of a 17 part assignment. >_<
If it wasn't midnight right here and I was about to go to sleep I'd just say to hit me on aim with anything I could help you with. Hope the assignment goes well though!
-- GREEN RANGER http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/4548/signaturedi.jpg
From: Weakupedia | #014 Christopher Reeves is dead?
That's honestly the reason I deleted my first post. I wrote basically the exact same thing in different words and then I thought "Wait... is he even dead? I might have just been mistaking the accident for his death since I can't even remember how he died..." and then I checked Wikipedia and made the post again.
It sounds awkward, yeah, I would go with the indirect construction for the last phrase: "If you have enough money, it is possible to buy not only a new car, but also a new house."
Anyways, for the first paragraph, the best way to figure that stuff out is to look at the tense of the other verbs in the paragraph. "Christopher Reeve IS" and "at first, he could not eat solid food, but now he CAN" are the indicators that you should use present tense. Be careful with phrases like "Reeve WAS also an experienced horseback rider." It's in past tense, but it's referring more to Reeve's horseback riding ability than himself personally.
-- _foolmo_ 'Oh please, if foolmo made that analogy you'd think it was picture perfect' - Biolizard28
How about these: 1. He enrolled in an advanced calculus class; however, he dropped it because he found it too difficult. 2. The tidal was a real disaster because it ruined the crops, destroyed several villagers, and caused many deaths. 3. Although analysts worked many hours on the computer program, they couldn’t find the cause of the problem. They finally gave up and went home. 4. Junk food is bad for your health, contains no vitamins, and damages your stomach; therefore, people shouldn’t eat it. 5. The lack of rainfall has caused a severe water shortage; consequently, people have to conserve water every day and think of new ways to reuse water. However, the situation is improving.
#1 is good. #2... not sure what you mean by tidal. A tsunami? Floods?
I might also either change it to "...disaster, ruining the crops..." or breaking it into two sentences, since otherwise it doesn't sound very emotional.
#3 is good, though I might stick a "the" before analysts.
#4 is good. #5 is good.
--
Oh, a big machine with flashy lights. A big machine like that has me written all over it. Well, okay, it doesn't. But give me time... and a crayon --11th Doctor