* Stop saying "was" for people still alive!

[ctb]

Hello again
Can anyone please help with this rather embarrassing problem: in my narrative reports, it says things like "Chris JONES was the son of David SMALL and Diana MOORE" - even though the people in question are still alive!
This seems like a fundamental error. Or am I missing something?
Any help appreciated!
Thanks
Clinton

[ctb]

Thanks to a couple of people very kindly providing advice on another question I asked about adding anecdotes, I now know that the best way around this is to avoid the computer-generated prose altogether by using "Individual Summary Report".
Best wishes
Clinton

[tatewise]

I cannot find many such 'embarrassing' examples in Narrative reports.
It does NOT usually say "Chris JONES was the son of David SMALL and Diana MOORE."
Instead it typically says "Chris JONES, son of David SMALL and Diana MOORE, was born..." which is perfectly OK.

It will only be a few facts that still apply now, where the verb may be 'embarrassing' such as "He lived in ..." or "He was a ..." when he still lives there and still is a whatever.

However, there are several techniques for correcting such verbs, but it seems you are no longer interested in Narrative reports.

[ctb]

Thanks again tatewise
I do quite like the narrative reports, but mine all seem to use past tense (as if they were dead) even for relatives still alive.
Regards!

[victor]

Just adding a little comment to this

The use of the word 'was' should not apply whether the child was a live or dead.
The child will always be the child of the couple so will always remain 'is' whether it is alive or dead

Victor

[tatewise]

Victor and Clinton, can you both please give examples of where the tense of the verb is unsatisfactory in Reports, so I can advise ways to improve the wording.

As far as I am aware, the cases that you both mention don't occur in Reports, and the wording is correct for living people.

[ctb]

Hi there. My entry says" "Clinton BELL, son of xxx and xxxx, was born on xxxx in Epsom, Surrey. He was a Business development roles (technology). " but I have neither retired nor died yet!

[tatewise]

OK, that is quite different from your original example, and would be correct for all but your last current Occupation.
It might be feasible to concoct some automatic expression that would substitute was with is in those rare cases.
But the easiest solution is to manually adjust the Sentence for those few cases, as explained in how_to:narrative_report_fact_sentence_templates|> Narrative Report Fact Sentence Templates under Specific Fact Sentences.

[victor]

Mike

I haven't come across this myself.

I merely replied to make a comment on what was being discussed in saying that a child 'is' always that of the parents whether alive or dead. The discussion was about using the word 'was' and I simply just commented on this to clarify 'is' and 'was' and not because I have come across the word.
It has been a very long time since I did a narrative report so have no recollection of coming across this. Next time I do so I will check the wording

Victor

[tatewise]

OK Victor ~ FH narratives use neither 'is' nor 'was' in that context of a child and parents, as I illustrated.