is vs. was

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Hello,

I’d like to know how different the nuiances between the two sentences below are:

  1. My research was due today.
  2. My research is due today.

I think both the sentences are correct even though in 1) the combination of ‘was’ and ‘today’ seems a bit strange. The below is what I think:

  1. The speaker has to hand in his/her research today, but s/he hasn’t hand in yet; s/he thinks s/he can’t hand in today.
  2. S/he’s telling the fact that the research due date is today; s/he doesn’t imply whether s/he can hand in or not.

In my mother tongue(Korean), the nuiances are like that. What do you think?

Thanks,
sweetpumpkin

2

I agree.

3

In my opinion, the use of different tenses depends on the time of reference.

1). My research was due today.
I think this sentence can be used after office hours regardless of whether the research was finished or not.
(a) My research was due today but I need two more days to finish it.
(b) My research was due today, fortunately I had finished it before I left.

2). My research is due today.
I think this sentence is used before the office is closed, also regardless of whether the research is finished or not.

Please correct me if I’ve made any incorrect assumption.

4

Well, I have seen people saying this while talking over the phone…

  1. Hi! George, I was calling to get an update…
    2.Hi! George, I am calling to get an update…

Both sounds correct to me, then what’s the difference?

5

#1 is more polite. Its implicit form is:

I was calling to get an update [unless you have something else that you want to talk about] / [if it be available].