In Spanish, we write essays differently. I'm confused about English tenses. When I write about a novel, do I use past tense ("the author wrote") or present ("the author writes")?
My friend said for literature always use present tense because the book still exists. "Hamlet struggles with indecision" not "Hamlet struggled."
For history papers, use past tense because it already happened. "The war began in 1914."
For science, it depends. Methods section is past tense ("we measured"), but conclusions can be present ("these results suggest").
Is this right? English tenses are so hard!
My friend said for literature always use present tense because the book still exists. "Hamlet struggles with indecision" not "Hamlet struggled."
For history papers, use past tense because it already happened. "The war began in 1914."
For science, it depends. Methods section is past tense ("we measured"), but conclusions can be present ("these results suggest").
Is this right? English tenses are so hard!