word choice - The meteor/meteorite fell over there

Let's not get too pedantic on the exact difference. What I'll stick with is this:

• If it is still in the air, falling, it's a meteor.


• If it has hit the ground, it's a meteorite.

In this case, which of the following is correct?

1. The meteor fell over there.


2. The meteorite fell over there.

This sets up a scenario where the object is now a meteorite, but was previously a meteor. The action we give to it, i.e., falling, corresponds to its state as a meteor, but it is a meteorite now; it is no longer a meteor.

If we're talking about an action of something that changes state, do we use the current state, or the state it was in at the time it was performing the action? Could it be that the verb form we pick affects this, i.e., that using "was falling" would cause "meteor" to be the correct choice, as falling in the present tense is something only a meteor can do, and that using "fell" would cause "meteorite" to be the correct choice, as only a meteorite can be done falling, mandating a past tense form?

Answer

"The meteorite fell over there" is correct because you're talking about a thing present-tense thing.

Another example:

• The man grew up in the countryside.

He's a man now, even though he was a boy when growing up.

However, if you're talking about something in the past-tense, i.e. describing the night it fell, you would use meteor:

• The sky was dark and the moon was bright as the meteor fell to earth.

And:

• He used to go fishing when he was a boy growing up in the country.