PocketMatrix

hmm... now im confused
whenever i talk about my friends that have died i always use present tense but i guess thats not the right way to go.
what if im just talking about the guy in general, throughout the entire book and you only find out he is dead when you are half way through?

i donno, maybe no one will notice that

... I really don't think it's a big deal, as long as you're consistant. After the guy dies I'd switch to pass tense, but if you stay with present then it's not "wrong" as thinking of the dead in present tense seems to be politically correct. If it's past tense then you should stay past through the entire thing. That would be my take on the situation.

Kiera, you should be using the past tense. The 'actor' in context is no longer alive nor capable of 'acting' in the present, therefor all references to belief/action/etc would have taken place in the past.

Thus:
Joe Schmo could never take anything for what it was.

Consider, though, that you should remain consistent, at the very least at a paragraph level. Meaning that preferably the entire paper would use past tense when referencing things, but acceptably if paragraph by paragraph you are consistent.

Use the past tense.

1) If the guy dies, whatever he did is OBVIOUSLY in the past.

2) Since it's been written down, it's obviously already happened either in the real world or in the world of whatever story you're in. Therefore, past tense.

Glad to be of assistance.

Kyle, do you really know at all or are you just chiming in? You really don't have to reiterate what 4 people have said before you. Repitition is the sign of a fool ... just look at parrots!

...and moose (plural) ...

Ok, I just called my mother on this one...intellectual persuits are the best. Anyhoo, she majored in English (BA), and teaches it...not to mention the genious IQ...so she's the lifeline I use when I have an English question...

Moving on...

The answer is thus:

Past tense, the entire time.

The exception would be if you were trying to suprise people who were reading the paper, in which case you could switch case, but it would have to be done at a pinacle point in the paper.

POCKETMATRIX: HOME OF THE SUPER GEEKS.