Can we use Present Perfect for dead people?

I mean, I’d surely say “He has never been a president”, if I speak about an alive person, because his period of life is not finished and he can change the situation.

But if I speak about a dead person — can I use Present Perfect? “Franklin has never been a president of the US” or “Franklin wasn’t ever a president”?

I’m interested in answer accordingly to grammar rules.

#English #British

Question

Can we use Present Perfect for dead people?
 
I mean, I’d surely say “He has never been a president”, if I speak about an alive person, because his period of life is not finished and he can change the situation.

But if I speak about a dead person — can I use Present Perfect? “Franklin has never been a president of the US” or “Franklin wasn’t ever a president”?

I’m interested in answer accordingly to grammar rules.

#English #British

Answer

You can only use the present perfect for present time periods. If the person is dead, their time period is no longer present, so you can't use present perfect.

Stephen King has written lots of books.

Charles Dickens wrote lots of books.

You can, however, use past simple to show that apparently present time periods have ended.

I drank 3 cups of coffee yesterday. [3 can't increase because the time period has ended]

I have drunk 2 cups of coffee today. [2 can increase because the time period hasn't finished]

I drank 2 cups of coffee today. [I know I won't drink any more coffee so I have ended the time period for drinking coffee, even though the day hasn't ended]

Answer

I can't speak specifically to written rules of grammar, but I can tell you we would never speak of a dead person in the present perfect. We would not say, "he has never been (a) president". Of a dead person, we would say, "[he] was never president". The problem is in using the verb "have" conjugated in the present tense with someone dead who really cannot "have" anything anymore, so it sounds weird to say it that way.

Answer

You can only use the present perfect if you are talking about the present because the verb "to have" is used in present tense. So, you have to say "Tom went to France" if Tom is dead.

However, you can say "the great poets have written a lot about love" even though the great poets are mostly dead. Why is this legal? I believe it is because "the great poets" names a category that is eternal. It will never die even if its individual members do.

Also, if you do it carefully, you can use it for historical figures like Ben Franklin. For example, you could say "Franklin has given us so much" because it is a statement about the present, not the past. From our selfish point of view, we are receiving the gift right now. We were not around when he discovered electricity. Of course, you could also use past tense.

Answer

As Tim and Adam have noted, the short answer is no. But there is some potential nuance. A skilled writer or storyteller will sometimes move fluidly between tenses and use them in an unusual manner when creatively recounting a narrative, but it's definitely an advanced technique.

Answer

Normally, you do switch to the past tense when speaking of someone who has died. And that would include not using the present perfect. It calls to mind something you hear often: when people speak of a friend or family member who died recently, they will often use the present tense ("She is such a generous person" for example) because they haven't quite gotten used to the idea of that person having died.

To your specific question: If you say "he has never been a president of the US" it implies the possibility that he still could be president one day. Just as "I have never been to Russia" makes it should like I could go in the future. But a dead person cannot become president (I hope), so we must change to the past tense. "He was never a president of the US" or "He never held the office of presidency."