Present vs past

[Bulone]

Suppose I want to talk about an event in the past and want to describe the surroundings or conditions in which the event took place. For instance - "Last week, we went to the newly open museum which is quite huge." In that example, should I use present tense to describe the size of the museum which is still true for present time. Or should I just use past tense all together? Your input will be highly appreciated.
Thanks in advance

[Alan]

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Hi Bulone,

Yes, you can use the present tense in that case because as you say the size of the museum is the same for all time. This sort of present tense is used for what are called rather dramatically 'eternal truths, For example: Yesterday we went for a river trip in London on the Thames, which is the main river in the city.

Alan
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English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Well, Hello!

[Bulone]

^^Thanks alan. I wasn't quite sure about the correct tense in that context as I was told, at one point, in this forum that past tense should be used when you want to tell the process which is never changed to this day; that is to say, food preparation should be written in past tense if it did in the past, even if the preparation method stays the same all time.
As an example - "I went to this restaurant that served delicious fish dish. Basically, fish was simmered in plethora of hot spices before covered in loads of cilantro."
And also one can assume that the restaurant may be serving this dish since day one on contrary to just that day. So would that be ok to use present tense in that context? Thanks again for your explanation.

[Alan]

Hi Bulone,

By using the past tense in your 'restaurant' sentence , it would suggest that the serving of the fish was simply at the time you visited it. In terms of language there is no indication whether the same serving takes place every day. By using the present tense you are suggesting that this serving is a regular occurrence. What I am saying is that it's not really a question of right or wrong but what you want to imply/

Alan
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English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story A day in the life of a driving instructor

[Bulone]

Hi Alan,
I think I'm starting to realize that I prioritize grammatical rules over what I want to say. In other words, you shed a light on my weakness. Thanks.