"It begins" or "it began" fifty years ago?

Question

Grammatically, I think it should be "it began" (don't count on me on this, I'm not a native speaker of English, and my instinct is often smarter than my conscious brain in English language), but somehow I feel it's better to use "it begins".

What's your say about this? The event that "begins" or "began" is still happening until the moment of speaking << perhaps this is the reason why my instinct feels it should be "it begins"

Answer 1

Even if the event continues, it is gramatically correct to say, "It began". Many languages differentiate between an ongoing action and one that has conclusively ended, but English doesn't in this case. I understand your instinct, it's just wrong:) So are the two people just ahead of me. The person is right about, "Our story begins", however, for the purpose of narration. "It has begun 50 years ago" is just incorrect for any purpose. It began 50 years ago.

Answer 2

Normally ago is an indicator for simple past but as you would like to express that something began in the past and is still going on at present means that you should be using present perfect.

auxiliary have + past participle



It has begun 50 years ago....



the tense present perfect expresses implicitly that it is still going on today

Answer 3

It began (the action started 50 years ago).

Answer 4

Brilliant

Answer 5

It's definitley "began", because the act of beginning is over, it's in the past.

Answer 6

fiffty years ago is the past so you would speak in the past tense which is "it began".

"it begins" is the present tense

Answer 7

It depends what tense your using it in... begins would be present tense and began would be past tense.

Answer 8

I think that "it begins" can be used when you're telling a story and you want your listeners to be more involved in it.



In italian it is called "presente storico" (historical present)

Answer 9

began

Answer 10

"began" is past tense, so i would use that (eg. ww1 began in 1914)

Answer 11

it began

Answer 12

It depends on whether or not you're narrating.



edit; as in "Our story begins"

Answer 13

Use "It began". It already happened.... fifty years ago. :)

Answer 14

its 'It began'.

Answer 15

heh...tell me about it