Past or present?

Question

When talking about a story or something that happened in the past, but the characteristics are still possessed today, should I use present or past tense?

e.g. My mum was a good mum, she prepared everything for me and took care of me seriously when I was a kid.

e.g. My mum is a good mum, she prepared everything for me and took care of me seriously when I was a kid.

without doubt, I am now an adult, she no longer prepares everything for me, so I'm sure that prepare and take should be in past tense, i.e. prepared and took.

How about my mum was a good mum or is a good mum in the above context?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

Anonymous · Answer

kenny1999How about my mum was a good mum or is a good mum in the above context?

You have to mark words used as words with quotation marks or italics:

How about "my mum was a good mum" or "is a good mum" in the above context?

kenny1999My mum was a good mum, she prepared everything for me and took care of me seriously when I was a kid.

That is a comma splice. Use two sentences:

My mum was a good mum. She prepared everything for me and took care of me seriously when I was a kid.

"Seriously" is not the right word for that. Let's make it this:

"My mum was a good mum. She prepared everything for me and took good care of me when I was a kid."

To answer your question, this means that you are looking back on your childhood and evaluating your mother's actions at that time favorably, obviously. Whether she remained a good mum after that is not addressed. You would also put it that way if she is dead now.

"My mum is a good mum. She prepared everything for me and took good care of me when I was a kid."

You believe your mum to be a good one. You present an example to support that claim.

Past or present?

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