Can you explain it to me?
I am still confused about the verb "be" in the past and present.
The past tense simply means that what you're saying is no more. (dead or changed)
If I know someone who is dead and I point to photo, I can say "He is Tom.", because even if he is dead, he is still tom; his name doesn't change.
1. But if I point to photo, can I say "This is my friend." or "This was my friend." / "Here's a photo of my friend, his name is Tom." or "Here's a photo of my friend, his name was Tom."?
2. If I say "This was my friend." "Here's a photo of my friend, his name was Tom.", so will the hearer understand that he is dead or he isn't my friend now?
3. If I tell about someone who is dead (don't have any photo of that person), should I say:
I had a handsome friend formerly, he was Tom (or He is Tom?), he was a teacher.
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Answers · 13
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I answered you in your previous post. Did you read it ?
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Hello. Hope this helps:
1. "This IS my friend." = She was your friend in the past and STILL is your friend now.
"This WAS my friend." = 'She was my friend in the past but now she's my enemy.' Or 'She was my friend in the past, but she died/past away.' Or 'She was my childhood friend, but we grew up and lost contact, so we don't talk anymore.'
"Here IS a photo of my friend. His name IS Tom." = Tom is alive and STILL my friend.
"Here is a photo of my friend. His name WAS Tom." = Tom was my friend in the past, but he died.
2. I would hear it as your friend is dead, because why would you refer to your enemy as a "friend"? Why would you show a picture of your enemy and talk to the listener like that? UNLESS you give more context like this: "Here's a photo of my friend who turned against me. His name IS Tom (*use "is" because Tom is still alive)." "Here's a photo of Tom. We used to be friends, but not anymore." "Here's a photo of my friend (I told you about). Do you remember how I said that he didn't want to be my friend anymore? His name is Tom." ....etc....
3. If I tell about someone who is dead (don't have any photo of that person), should I say:
I had a handsome friend formerly, he was Tom (or He is Tom?), he was a teacher.
If you have no photo, then keep everything in the PAST-TENSE. -->"I HAD a handsome friend. He WAS Tom. He WAS a teacher." / "I HAD a really handsome friend namED Tom. He WAS a teacher." / "I usED to have a friend who I thought was handsome. His name WAS Tom." / "I usED to have an attractive (good-looking/handsome/pretty) friend namED Tom. He WAS a teacher, but he past away/died."
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Other answers are good but I wanted to add one thing. If you are showing someone a picture, you can usually use the present to describe it.
For example, you can say both
“This is Grandma on her wedding day. She died when you were two” (like saying “This is a picture of Grandma ..”
“This was Grandma on her wedding day. She died when you were two”
As far as 3, there are many ways to communicate the information, depending what was most important. His name? The fact that he was my friend? The fact that he died? The fact that he was handsome?
My handsome teacher friend, Tom, passed away.
“Handsome? No one was more handsome than my teacher friend, Tom”
“I miss Tom’s friendship. He was the handsome teacher I told you about before”
Etc.
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All the sentences you provide are correct. To me it would be clear in each of the sentences alone that your friend had passed. Your English is excellent.
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Thanks, I got it.
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