<p>I posted this in the College Life board, but I'll post it here too incase anyone else knows.</p>
<p>"When you are writing an essay about an autobiography, would you use present or past tense.</p>
<p>Like...if you are talking about the autobiography of Benjy.</p>
<p>In Benjamin Franklin's case, knowledge opens the doors to freedom</p>
<p>or</p>
<p>In Benjamin Frankin's case, knowledge opened the doors to freedom."</p>
<p>The second one...? </p>
<p>Because it's history. You can use the past.</p>
<p>Can't you?</p>
<p>I think for History its the past tense but for literature its the present tense.</p>
<p>BoredPirate is right.</p>
<p>So if it's about the actual book, use present, if it's about Ben Franklin, use past.</p>
<p>yeah... i got a B on an essay because i talked about "The Fall" in the past tense; i should have used present because it's literature. Past tense for history, present tense for literature</p>
<p>You can use either, sometimes you use Historical present to make things more vivid.</p>
<p>my english teacher doesnt care whether we use past or present(although she prefers this) for papers, we just can't shift tense.</p>
<p>My AP english teacher will doc us up to 20% for not being in the right tense</p>