Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Should we use past tense in "Lugo admitted he is the father"?



In this sentence, should the is be a was?





On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he is the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.



Answer




On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he is the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.




Boofus McGoofus got this right. I am just going to expand on his answer. The heuristic rule taught to ESL learners is that the past tense should be used for indirect quotations, as in





Lugo: "I admit I am the father of a child conceived with V.C."




Indirect quotation form:




On April 13, 2009, Lugo admitted he was the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.





But, this rule doesn't have to be applied in the case that the situation is still true, so is can be used. However, in a sentence like




On April 13, 1801, Lugo admitted he was the father of a child conceived with Viviana Carrillo.




"is" would be a little strange because both Lugo and his child are long since gone. So basically the heuristic rule can be broken in the case that the quoted fact is still true.


No comments:

Post a Comment