Al contingut
Respondre

Past or present tense for stories

de Alkanadi, 2 de setembre de 2014

Missatges: 4

Llengua: English

Alkanadi (Mostra el perfil) 2 de setembre de 2014 8.51.44

I noticed that some stories are told in the past tense, while others are told in the present tense. Which way is correct?

Example:
La heroo mortigis la drakon.
La heroo mortigas la drakon

sergejm (Mostra el perfil) 2 de setembre de 2014 9.09.21

The both are correct.

nornen (Mostra el perfil) 2 de setembre de 2014 13.29.40

I would say that this is mostly about style.
When you tell a story, which obviously happened in the past, in the present tense, it is called "historic present".
It is a literary means of throwing the reader directly into the action.

tommjames (Mostra el perfil) 2 de setembre de 2014 13.49.03

PMEG has some info on this usage of the present tense for the past, here (last paragraph).

Tornar a dalt