Question on Verb Tense

[sivai87]

Source: Manhattan GMAT Prep 4

Chapter 7, Problem Set - 3

Q: Mozarat, who died in 1791, has lived in Salzburg for most of his life.

Corrected versions:

1. Mozarat, who died in 1791, lived in Salzburg for most of his life.
2. Mozarat, who died in 1791, had lived in Salzburg for most of his life.

Can anyone explain as why is the Q wrong (the tense)? I feel that the present perfect is correct. Though Mozarat is dead, the fact that he spent most of his life in Salzburg is still true and hence should rightly be expressed in Present Perfect. Please let me know if I am going wrong somewhere..

Thanks in advance :)
Sivai

[messi10]

Hi Sivai,

Part of your answer is in your own quote:

Though Mozarat is dead,the fact that he spent most of his life in Salzburg is still true

That fact is true and can be referred to in present tense.

However, as the book explains, Mozart is dead and that has no effect in the present. Similarly, his life that was in Salzburg is also a part of history. It does not have a continuing effect.

If you make a sentence about his life's work i.e. effects of his living in Salzburg, his music, then perhaps you can make a sentence using present perfect.

Hope this helps

Regards

Sunil

[jnelson0612]

If we reduce the sentence to its most essential components, the sentence would be "Mozart has lived in Salzburg".

"has lived" is a present perfect tense, indicating that something started in the past and continues on today. It would be correct to say "Barack Obama has served as President since 2009" since that is a state of affairs that is still happening. However, since Mozart no longer lives in Salzburg, we cannot say that he "has lived".