- Kamarajar remained a bachelor all his life.
- Kamarajar remained as a bachelor all his life.
Are these sentences acceptable?
The second isn’t, and I know this has been discussed before.
Hi,
I wonder why the past tense is used here instead of present tense.
Kamarajar remains a bachelor all his life.
Kamarajar was a famous political leader in Tamilnadu and he passed away long before.
So I used passed tense.
Thank you, Allifathima.
Would it be logical for us to use the present tense form (for all his life) when the person is still alive? I don’t think so. You could, however, say:
He remained (‘had remained’ is also possible) a bachelor all his life. (A posthumous reference to him)
He is a leader who has vowed to remain a bachelor all his life.(A contemporary reference to him)
Thank you, Anglophile.
You are right. I didn’t think about it carefully.
Sir,
I slightly disagree with you here.
As I have read and learnt, Simple tense is used to write sentences with a future event/sense inherent. In such cases time is given importance in the tense structure.
Note the following sentence:
The P.M. comes tomorrow for the inaugural.
so,
He remains bachelor all his life, have the sense of a vow implicitly.
Yes, In the original sentence the particular situation referred to the past. But, in general, it is not incorrect to say it in the present tense.
Correct me if I am wrong.
Kamaraj was a nationally famous figure, Fathima. He was a ‘common man with uncommon commonsense’ as described by (if my memory serves well) V K Krishna Menon, the then (in the early 60s) Defence Minister of India.
I hold my view as long as you use ‘all his life’.
Your example is different. It’s a scheduled programme.
‘The PM comes tomorrow’ cannot be likened to ‘He remains a bachelor all his life’.
But you can say:
‘He will/may remain a bachelor all his life’ as you may say
‘The PM will/may come tomorrow’.
Anyhow, watch out for other comments.
All his life doesn’t necessarily refer to the past. It may contain a promise/vow as you mentioned, inherently.
the example i gave was no doubt a scheduled event but it also showed a sense of certainty. That’s what i was trying to relate to the other example.
As you have cleared the point i wanted to make in the last two modifications. I totally agree.
But, what i wanna say is, through Simple tense also, (without using will/may) the message can be conveyed correctly.
I might be wrong. Yes, let’s wait for other opinions/ modifications. 
[/quote]
You are wrong on two counts here:
[quote]
what i wanna say…/quote]
You mean: What I want to say…
“The PM comes tomorrow…” doesn’t make sense. You would have to say
“The PM is coming tomorrow…”
BN
I think ‘wanna’ is perfectly acceptable form of ‘want to’, yes of course not in formal writing strictly, but except otherwise it is a frequent term in English as i know.
And for the sentences,
The P.M. comes tomorrow. This structure is used for scheduled events in future as per I have been taught. Yes, the continuous form is also perfectly right for such a case.
Again, other members’ opinions/modifications are awaited!
The term ‘wanna’ does not exist in standard written English.
It is simply a result of poor pronunciation of ‘want to’.
Regarding ‘comes tomorrow’, you ought to know that you have been taught a form which does not sound natural to a native English speaker.
Okay, I will keep that in mind from now onward.
Does the sentence sound unnatural because it suggests that the act “coming” of the PM happens every day and that is very unlikely?
No. Apart from anything else, it doesn’t make it sound as if he will come every day.
It is unnatural because ‘tomorrow’ is in the future, which dictates that if you use ‘to come’ as the main verb (rather than ‘to be’), the future tense is needed, not the present tense.
Hi Screen
The use of the present
tense with ‘come’ is acceptable. A future event that is planned can be expressed by the present simple as in: The train arrives at 6 pm.
Thanks Beeesneees and Alan.
Can I add ‘for’ preposition before ‘all his life’ as stated below:
“Kamarajar remained a bachelor for all his life.”
Is this correct?