Are the tenses in this passage okay?
Here is a passage I extracted from a book, which is a collection of mocking tests.

"Most people have their own idol, and so do I. Both Bette Midler and Audrey Hepburn are my favorite superstars. Though they 【lived】 at different times and 【have had】 completely different achievements, they still have several things in common..."

What I think is:
(1) By using the past verb "lived", it suggests that both of them passed away, which is not true.

(2) By using the present perfect form "have had", it suggests that both of them are still alive, which is also not true.

My question is:
If the tenses in this passage are not appropriate, in what way can I get out of the dilemma when I want to make a conclusion about two people where one is dead but the other is still alive?

Question

Are the tenses in this passage okay?
Here is a passage I extracted from a book, which is a collection of mocking tests.

"Most people have their own idol, and so do I. Both Bette Midler and Audrey Hepburn are my favorite superstars. Though they 【lived】 at different times and 【have had】 completely different achievements, they still have several things in common..."

What I think is:
(1) By using the past verb "lived", it suggests that both of them passed away, which is not true.

(2) By using the present perfect form "have had", it suggests that both of them are still alive, which is also not true.

My question is: 
If the tenses in this passage are not appropriate, in what way can I get out of the dilemma when I want to make a conclusion about two people where one is dead but the other is still alive?

Answer

First of all, this is a nonsense sentence created to confuse you by its contradictions. You have to change it in order to say something that makes sense.

Most people have their own idols, and so do I. Bette Midler and the late Audrey Hepburn are my favorite superstars. Though Bette is mainly a singer and Audrey was an actress, their careers  still have several things in common.

Answer

*Though they lived simular lives, many things were not the same. They were born at different times and their deaths happened at different times ."
  "I think your tense is right but I tried to help you find a better way just in case you didn't like this one."
If you wanted to shorten it down there are many ways to do that for one :
*These two people have many common experiences, however one died before the other.* ^_^ 
I don't know which one died first but if I knew that I could replace "one" with that person's name.

Answers · 2

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