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Past or present tense for stories

af Alkanadi, 2. sep. 2014

Meddelelser: 4

Sprog: English

Alkanadi (Vise profilen) 2. sep. 2014 08.51.44

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 (Vise profilen) 2. sep. 2014 09.09.21

The both are correct.

nornen (Vise profilen) 2. sep. 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 (Vise profilen) 2. sep. 2014 13.49.03

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

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