Holden has been expelled

[Xixi Luo]

1. Holden has been expelled and isn't to return home until after Christmas break, which begins the following Wednesday.
2. He states that although he has had opportunities to lose his virginity, the timing never felt right and he was always respectful when a girl declined.
3. He feels that he may not be good enough, and the record was the only thing he thought he had to offer to his sister.

I think introductary text should be in the simple present tense. However, the synopsis of The Catcher in the Rye by Wikipedia uses the past tense and present perfect tense as well. I don't know why.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Your instinct is correct. Story synopses are usually told in the present tense.

But the tenses change when something happens outside the "present" being discussed. So, for instance, since Holden was expelled before the start of the book, the has been in #1 is correct.

The same thing is true for #2.

In #3, the record is already broken at that point in the story. So again, putting it in the present wouldn't make sense, since by now in the story it has already happened.

 

[emsr2d2]

introductory

Note the correct spelling of "introductory". Please don't put whole sentences in bold. It's unnecessary. I have removed the bold from post #1.

 

[Xixi Luo]

I think I kind of got it. Those incidents in the past and perfect tense all happened before the time Holden begins to tell his story. My new question is that is there any difference between the past tense and the perfect tense here?
My guess: same with the difference between the past tense and the perfect tense.
1. "has been expelled" and "has had opportunities" may have some thing to do with the "present".
2. "was the only thing he thought he has to offer to" may just state a past event or state.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Past perfect can show that something happened before a specific time in the past.

In your first and second example, that specific time is the beginning of the book. They happened before the novel started.

In your third, it happened earlier in the book, so simple past is good.

 

[Xixi Luo]

Maybe I am into a dead end, but I think the first two examples are in PRESENT perfect not PAST perfect.