Grammar help

Question

Hi, my name is Bimbo. I am looking for your help on the following scenario.

Q1)

"yesterday i attended a presentation , and during the presentation i am impressed with the speaker. "

When i tell someone (now) about that situation, should i say "i was impressed with the speaker" or "i am impressed with the speaker" ? and why

Q2)

"last week Tom caught a thief while he was trying to rob a shop"

When i tell someone (now) about that situation, should i say "Tom was responsible catching that thief" or "Tom is responsible catching that thief" ? and why.

Thanks.

Clive · Accepted Answer

Hi Bimbo,

Welcome to the Forum.

You have some other errors in your sentences, which I have corrected in red. In particular, you need to use capital letters correctly.

Q1)

"Yesterday I attended a presentation , and during the presentation I am impressed with the speaker. "

When i tell someone (now) about that situation, should i say "I was impressed with the speaker" or "I am impressed with the speaker" ? and why Say'was'. The focus is on the past event.

You could say 'am' in a context that focuses on the present,

eg I am impressed by that speaker so I am going to write a letter to him tright now to thank him.

But the most common tense would be 'was'.

Q2)

"Last week Tom caught a thief while he was trying to rob a shop."

When i tell someone (now) about that situation, should i say "Tom was responsible for catching that thief" or "Tom is responsible for catching that thief" ? and why.

Same kind of comment as above. The usual tense would be 'was'. But 'am' would be OK if, for example. you are looking at the thief on TV, perhaps while he is being lead into court

Clive

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