was/is

Pos   Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:28 am GMT
"Quo at Cardiff Castle, many years ago, is/was one of the best rock concerts I've ever seen."

Should that be "was" or "is"?
Calliope   Thu Dec 21, 2006 7:58 am GMT
Is. If it was "was", it should say "was one of the best rock concerts I *had* ever seen".
Pos   Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:16 am GMT
So doesn't that show that the present perfect is actually a present tense?
Jim   Thu Dec 21, 2006 9:17 am GMT
I agree. It still is. Use "was" & you'll have to use "had" (like Calliope writes) but you'd only say this if it's no longer one of the best rock concerts you've ever seen. For example, "Quo at Cardiff Castle was one of the best rock concerts I'd ever seen when I met Mick Jagger 10 years ago. After meeting him and getting into the 'in crowd' I began seeing two rock concerts a week most of which were far better than Quo at Cardiff Castle."
M56   Thu Dec 21, 2006 10:32 am GMT
Or, Jim, " "Quo at Cardiff Castle was one of the best concerts I'd ever seen untill I saw Britney Live".

;-))
Calliope   Thu Dec 21, 2006 1:00 pm GMT
"So doesn't that show that the present perfect is actually a present tense?"

It sure does. It's like someone said on another thread, present perfect describes a state, not a moment in time. *Right now* I am in the state of not having seen a better concert.