a good person.
When speaking of someone I haven’t seen or heard from for a while I tend to speak of them in the past tense, even though I’m sure they’re still alive.
So which is correct? Or are both okay?
Peace,
mangeorge
Depends on your ex-wife, I suppose. Neither usage would apply to mine.
Edited title to indicate subject.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator
Saying “My ex-wife was a good person” implies two things, imo: she’s either dead, or no longer a good person. However, this usage is a matter of style and opinion, so I don’t think you’re going to get a GQ answer.
Well, if you have not been in contact with a person for a while, you don’t know whether or not the attribute you are describing is still true. To use your example, you don’t know if your ex-wife still is a good person, just that she was when you knew her.
Of course, while it is strictly more accurate (IMHO), many people do infer the implications given by Elyanna, implications I assume you don’t want to imply.
Whenever I say something like “my ex-wife was only about five feet tall” my friends always reply “she probably still is”.
If they didn’t rag me like that they wouldn’t be my friends.
“Is” would seem to make more sense in the examples you’re giving.
Almost invariably, people at work refer to past co-workers in the past sense.
And FORTRAN forever, your example is better than mine. Thanks.
(Thanks, Colibri)