Re: Past actions with present verbs ?!?

John of Aix wrote:

Yes, it's perfectly all right to use the "historic present" (or
"historical present") tense in this way. It's commonly used to give
more emphasis or sense of dynamism than a simple past tense provides.

Yes but it is far less common than the past tense and can only really be used if 'narrating a timeline' so that the speaker and listener are situated in the present as each event happens.

Of course, it's used all the time when talking about literature or philosophy, as "In 'Troy Town', Q pokes gentle fun at small town Victorian snobbery", or "Spinoza shows that morality derives as surely from the immanent God of Nature as from the external Judaeo-Christian God of Final Judgement".

Paul Burke
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