Is/was designed - Passive voice

[RobertT]

Hi teachers,

Pardon me, I don't know how to begin so I'll just jump straight to my question.

Speaking in passive voice and even when referring to the present, does the tense of a sentence depend on the age of the subject?

For example:

1). The Empire State Building (is or was) designed to withstand high wind speeds.

2). Apple's all-new iPad (is or was) designed to be thinner, lighter and faster than the previous version.


I would of course use "is" in speech for sentence two because the new iPad has only been announced recently.

However, I'm not sure which one is the right choice for sentence 1 because the Empire State Building is still standing in New York City, but the construction ended in 1931.


Thank you.
Robert

 

[engee30]

That reminds me of historic present, allowing the speaker to talk about past events in a more vivid way instead of using the past simple tense.

 

[RobertT]

That reminds me of historic present, allowing the speaker to talk about past events in a more vivid way instead of using the past simple tense.

Just one of many aspects of English that teachers just don't teach at language centre and I wonder why.

 

[Barb_D]

I would use "was" for both of those -- the design process is past.

 

[TheParser]

Hi teachers,

Pardon me, I don't know how to begin so I'll just jump straight to my question.

Speaking in passive voice and even when referring to the present, does the tense of a sentence depend on the age of the subject?

For example:

1). The Empire State Building (is or was) designed to withstand high wind speeds.

2). Apple's all-new iPad (is or was) designed to be thinner, lighter and faster than the previous version.


I would of course use "is" in speech for sentence two because the new iPad has only been announced recently.

However, I'm not sure which one is the right choice for sentence 1 because the Empire State Building is still standing in New York City, but the construction ended in 1931.


Thank you.
Robert

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Robert,


(1) I found this statement from Professor Otto Jespersen:

... the combination of is + the past participle is still freely

used in all those cases in which we think more of the

resulting state than of the action.

(2) I guess that this means the choice really depends on

what you wish to emphasize.

(a) Maybe it would be better to use "was" in No. l if you were

emphasizing the work done by the architects. ("The architects were

well aware of the weather conditions on the East Coast, so the

building was designed ....")

(b) On the other hand, "is" might be more appropriate if you were

reassuring a frightened coworker inside that building that he

had nothing to fear from the fierce winds hitting the building at

that moment. ("Don't worry, dude. This building is designed to ....")

(3) I also found some good common-sense advice on the Web:

The purpose of speaking or writing is to communicate smoothly.

Not to jar the listener/reader. In other words, not to make her

stop for a moment in order to consider some minor grammatical

point. (For example, my use of "her" probably made you ask

yourself why I didn't use him, him or her, them!!!)

(a) The bottom line:

If you use the past tense, probably no one will pay attention.

The present tense, however, may draw too much attention to the

tense that you used.

 

[RobertT]

Thank you Parser!:up:

That's really insightful.

By the way, I would use "them" in the sentence of your third point. Not sure if that would be correct though.:-D

 

[TheParser]

Thank you Parser!:up:

That's really insightful.

By the way, I would use "them" in the sentence of your third point. Not sure if that would be correct though.:-D

***** NOT A TEACHER *****


Mr. T.,

(1) Everyone is expected to bring his/ her/ his or her/ their book

to class tomorrow.

(2) I think that nowadays all those forms are "correct." In the

real world, most people no longer use "his" to refer to both

genders; "her" would, of course, be very appropriate for an all-female

class. Furthermore, some people use "her" to refer to both genders

(as I did in my first post), and few people will object. For example:

"A driver should not eat while she is driving"; it appears that "they"

is now "winning" the contest. Although some of us older people are

horrified by this usage, it seems to be the most acceptable by both

genders. (Of course, "she/he" or "s/he" is really too ugly to use!!!)

P.S. Some people avoid this problem by trying to make everything

plural: Drivers should not eat while they are driving.