Who is the founder of...

[subhajit123]

Hi everyone, if someone asks me "Who is the founder of apple?" Should I reply in present tense or past tense?Like, "The founder of the apple is/was Steve jobs": 'Was' or 'is', which one should I use? As I know the person is not alive, I think I should use past tense. But the questioner asks the question in present tense, then what form should I use? I've also seen in exams that questions often comes in present tense in this kind of context despite knowing that The person about whom information is being sought is not alive? Can someone tell me the reason? If I ask someone 'who was the founder of Apple', will I be wrong?

 

[emsr2d2]

Hi everyone. If someone asks me "Who is the founder of Apple?", should I reply in the present tense or the past tense? (Space after a question mark.) [STRIKE]Like[/STRIKE] For example, "The founder of [STRIKE]the[/STRIKE] Apple is/was Steve Jobs". Should I use 'was' or 'is'? [STRIKE]which one should I use?[/STRIKE] As I know the person is not alive, I think I should use the past tense. But if the questioner asks the question in the present tense, then what form should I use? I've also seen in exams that questions often [STRIKE]comes[/STRIKE] come in the present tense in this kind of context despite knowing that the person about whom information is being sought is not alive. Can someone tell me the reason? If I ask someone 'Who was the founder of Apple', will I be wrong?

"Steve Jobs was the founder of Apple" is the most natural answer. The most natural form to use when asking about the founder of anything is the past tense. Founding the company must have happened in the past so it is much more natural to ask "Who founded Apple?"

Note my corrections above. It's important to capitalise proper nouns (names of companies, people's names etc).