The young Lord Louis Partridge gets shot/had been shot in the chest by his grandpa.

[Alexey86]

In this thread: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/282885-entirely-an-idiot, Tarheel changed "The young Lord Louis Partridge gets shot in the chest by his grandpa" to "The young Lord Louis Partridge had been shot ..."

The whole passage: "The young Lord Louis Partridge gets shot in the chest by his grandpa. Enola approaches him crying because she thinks that he is dead. But suddenly he opens his eyes and says, showing her that he has had a steel vest: 'I am not entirely an idiot, you know."

Why is the historical present (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_present) incorrect in the first sentence?

 

[GoesStation]

In this thread: https://www.usingenglish.com/forum/threads/282885-entirely-an-idiot, Tarheel changed "The young Lord Louis Partridge gets shot in the chest by his grandpa" to "The young Lord Louis Partridge had been shot ..."

The whole passage: "The young Lord Louis Partridge gets shot in the chest by his grandpa. Enola approaches him crying because she thinks that he is dead. But suddenly he opens his eyes and says, showing her that he has had a steel vest: 'I am not entirely an idiot, you know."

Why is the historical present (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_present) incorrect in the first sentence?

It's fine. I might write it that way, but I think I'd prefer the present perfect. The past perfect doesn't work for me.

 

[jutfrank]

It is very appropriate to use the simple present tense gets shot there. This is the most conventional form when describing the plots of novels/plays/films, etc.

 

[Tdol]

As a plot summary, the present is fine for me too.