 Re: is/was? why?
Both could occur - this sentence would occur in a context where the speaker was correcting a mistake and the "permanent truth" of the fact might be more in his/her mind than the "pastness" of the year. So the conversation might go...
A : I read that XXX left the States in 1921.
B : 1921?? No - 1921 is the year he was born. He left America in 1935. |