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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 8/11/2019
Posts: 2
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Now the boy is at the age of 5 yr.
His weight at the birth was 3000 grams.
(In my opinion, the weight at the birth is recorded in the boy's medical inspection report, and never changes. Could we use "is" in the sentence?)
His weight at the age of 6 months was 5 kilo-grams.
The difference between the weight at the birth and that at the 6th month is/was 4700 grams.
Which be-verb is correct?
(In my opinion, the difference never changes. I prefer "is".)
Thank you!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/19/2011
Posts: 11,429
Neurons: 57,718
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levylee wrote:Now the boy is at the age of 5 yr.
His weight at the birth was 3000 grams.
(In my opinion, the weight at the birth is recorded in the boy's medical inspection report, and never changes. Could we use "is" in the sentence?)
No, because the boy is now 5 years old. His weight at birth was 3000 grams. We use 'was' because that was in the past. You would use 'is' if this were the time of his birth, but it is not.
His weight at the age of 6 months was 5 kilo-grams.
The difference between the weight at the birth and that at the 6th month is/was 4700 grams.
Which be-verb is correct?
(In my opinion, the difference never changes. I prefer "is".)
No, using 'is' would mean the difference now is 4700 grams, but that is not correct because his is now 5 years old. The difference existed in the past, so we use 'was', because this was true in the past.
Thank you!
We should look to the past to learn from it, not destroy our future because of it — FounDit
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Rank: Newbie
Joined: 8/11/2019
Posts: 2
Neurons: 15
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Thank you!
If the boy points the number "3000 grams" in the medical inspection report, he ask his mom "what is this?".
His mother says "this was your weight at the birth" or "this is your weight at the birth."
In my opinion, the number indicating his weight at the birth exists now, so I prefer "is."
Excuse me, becasue I am confused about the tense in the power point presentation, I ask this stipud question.
Thank you!
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Rank: Advanced Member
Joined: 9/19/2011
Posts: 11,429
Neurons: 57,718
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levylee wrote:Thank you!
If the boy points the number "3000 grams" in the medical inspection report, he ask his mom "what is this?".
His mother says "this was your weight at the birth" or "this is your weight at the birth."
In my opinion, the number indicating his weight at the birth exists now, so I prefer "is."
Excuse me, becasue I am confused about the tense in the power point presentation, I ask this stipud question.
Thank you! Ah, I see. The difference is that 3000 grams of weight was his weight at birth, but he no longer has that weight. But the number is what is written on his medical record. That is true and does not change because the number continues to exist on a piece of paper even though his weight has changed.
As his mother says, "This was your weight at birth" and that changes, but "This is the number" on the paper, and that doesn't change.
We should look to the past to learn from it, not destroy our future because of it — FounDit
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