grammar - How to refer to dead and alive persons together?


Usually we refer to a dead person using the past tense. For example:



Albert Einstein was wrong about...



But when we are talking about both dead and alive persons in the same sentence, should we use past or present?



a) Einstein and Tarantino are wrong.


b) Einstein and Tarantino were wrong.



The alive person (i.e. Tarantino) is still wrong about things and still doing it.




Comments

Popular posts from this blog

etymology - Origin of "s--t eating grin"

usage - "there doesn't seem" vs. "there don't seem"

First floor vs ground floor, usage origin

Abbreviation of "Street"

meaning - What is synonyme of "scale"?

etymology - Since when has "a hot minute" meant a long time?

meaning - "Instable" or "unstable"?