Past actions with present verbs ?!?

[Lynda]

Hello ...

firstly, as usual, thank you sooo much for answering
so kindly to my previous message :-)

ok, another quest for you all ... this time, it's very simple ...

I need to know if it's correct, in english, to use verbs in this
way :


- In 1997, Luke, CREATES a new company named ... blah blah blah
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINS new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEAVES the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTS to learn english.... blah blah blah

I think you got what I mean ... is it correct to use "PRESENT" verb, with
past dates ?

can I speak about past actions ( happened in precise dates ... in precise
years ... ), using the PRESENT VERBS ?

should I use past forms insteads ? like :

- In 1997, Luke, CREATED a new company named ... blah blah blah
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINED new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEFT the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTED to learn english .... blah blah blah
____________________

thank you very much, again, and again, and again ;-)

[Miss Elaine Eos]

Post by Lynda
I need to know if it's correct, in english, to use verbs in this
- In 1997, Luke, CREATES a new company named ... blah blah blah
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINS new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEAVES the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTS to learn english.... blah blah blah

These are correct in one sense, but may be awkward, depending on what

Post by Lynda
- In 1997, Luke CREATED a new company named ... blah blah blah

[Note: I deleted your stray comma, too]

Post by Lynda
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINED new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEFT the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTED to learn english.... blah blah blah
I think you got what I mean ... is it correct to use "PRESENT" verb, with
past dates ?

It can be -- again, in particular circumstances, mostly for literary
effect. The rule-of-thumb, though, would be to use the past tense for
past times.

The "present tense talking about the past" form is typically used in a
kind of narration that sort of "takes you back" to the previous time,
and then narrates it as if it were the present.

"In 1940, Mikey starts to learn English, only to find that his accent is
so heavy that his dream of being an anchorman are doomed to failure. He
continues studying under the top voice teachers of the day, though, and
eventually..." etc.

Again, this isn't "normal", but a not-uncommon style for a particular
type of narration. I tend to associate it with 50's era documentaries
or "newsreels" type film narration.

[Chris Croughton]

On Sun, 14 May 2006 23:37:37 +0200, Lynda

Post by Lynda
I need to know if it's correct, in english, to use verbs in this
- In 1997, Luke, CREATES a new company named ... blah blah blah
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINS new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEAVES the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTS to learn english.... blah blah blah
I think you got what I mean ... is it correct to use "PRESENT" verb, with
past dates ?

It's not incorrect, but it is more usually used in speech than in
writing, especially in documentaries (a style which I dislike, but that
is a matter of personal taste). I wouldn't expect to see it in serious
writing.

Post by Lynda
can I speak about past actions ( happened in precise dates ... in precise
years ... ), using the PRESENT VERBS ?
- In 1997, Luke, CREATED a new company named ... blah blah blah
- In 1995 that company, OBTAINED new partnerships ... blah blah blah
- In 1980 his sister Sarah, LEFT the company .... blah blah blah
- In 1940, Miky STARTED to learn english .... blah blah blah

Those are better, and are the form normally expected in written text.
Except that in almost all of your cases there are too many commas:

In 1997 Luke created a new company named...
In 1995 that company obtained new partnerships...
In 1980 his sister Sarah left the company...
In 1940 Miky started to learn english...

In particular the ones after 'Luke', 'company' and 'Sarah' are wrong,
they break the sentence in the wrong place. The ones after the date may
be put there depending on the context (modern usage would say "leave
them out if three is any doubt", older styles used them more). A rule
of thumb (not always accurate but a good guide) is to say each part
separated by the commas and see whether it makes sense:

In 1997,
Luke,
created a new company...

In 1995 that company,
obtained new partnerships...

Another way of looking at it is that paired commas (for instance around
'Luke') are generally used instead of parentheses, and parentheses round
a phrase imply that thephrase is not essential to the structure of the
sentence (as in this one, if you take out my comments in parentheses the
sentence is still grammatically correct). If you do that with your
'Luke' you get the sentence "In 1997 created a new company named..."
which makes no sense (it has no subject for the verb).

Chris C