I cam across this example in "Learning Express: Writing Skills":
Wrong
We went to the new Italian restaurant on Vine last night. The atmosphere was wonderful. [What happened? Did it burn down during the night?]
Correct
We went to the new Italian restaurant on Vine last night. The atmosphere is wonderful.
I should think that the use of "was wonderful" instead of "is wonderful" describes the atmosphere at that particular time, and therefore "was wonderful" is correct.
Are there any instances where we need to shift tenses?
TQ
Typo - I came across
- Are there any other instances...
I agree with you on this issue. The first is better in my opinion. I can't think of any situation where you would need to shift tenses off the top of my head, but I can't say for sure that there isn't one.
Correct
We went to the new Italian restaurant on Vine last night. The atmosphere was wonderful.
Q) What happened? Did it burn down during the night?
A) What the Hell are you talking about? Of course it didn't. What I'm saying is that it was wonderful last night.
Correct
We went to the new Italian restaurant on Vine last night. The atmosphere is wonderful.
Not only was the atmosphere wonderful then but It's always wonderful there.
Jim, are both sentences correct? Could you give me some more examples?
He's saying that both are correct. They mean different things though... It's a very subtle difference though. If you use the first, only an idiot would say "Oh my. It must not be like that anymore!" A normal person would probably assume that it is normally that way unless you indicated otherwise...
*Note: I'm not calling anyone an idiot. It's totally hypothetical.*
That's right. Both are correct. The second says it was wonderful last night but wouldn't normally imply that it's no longer wonderful. The speaker might not know how it usually is, they're just talking about last night.
Are their meaning different? As a non native speaker, I will choose the first sentence, because it tells us about the night before.
If you use the first one you're saying that the atmosphere was wonderful because of divers factors that were present that night.
For example :
A nice band playing the music you like,
Good food,
good company,
good service, etc
Number two means that those factors are always present.
I have an example I read in a book:
-We agreed that the Earth was round.
-We agreed that the Earth is round.
Of course, the Earth is round now (it haven't become a square), but "was round" means that it was in the specifical moment we agreed. Sounds weird, eh?
In most cases, here in America at least, people use both interchangeably in conversation. (Colloquially. It might not always be correct use.)
Except in certain cases where it might sound odd, you could use either and no one would give it a second thought.