What I read was incorrect vs. What I read is incorrect

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

What I read was incorrect.

What I read is incorrect.

Is there any difference between the sentences besides the fact that the first sentence is in the past tense and the second is in the present tense?

Thanks.

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Is “read” past or present tense in each sentence?

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The first sentence is in the past tense and the second is in the present tense. Hence, in the first sentence, “read” sounds like “red”, while in the second, it sounds like “reed”.

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  1. In both the cases, what you have read has turned out to be incorrect.
  2. In the first, you might be referring to a particular occasion when what you had read happened to be incorrect.
  3. In the second, you might be referring to a recurrent situation in which whatever you read happens to be incorrect or to a habitual situation in which you are prone to reading only what is incorrect. :slightly_smiling_face:
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5

I asked my question because “read” in the second sentence could be past tense.

What I read as a child is now known to be incorrect.

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