"What it did was" versus "what it did is" versus "what it does is"
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Music by Eric Matyas
https://www.soundimage.org
Track title: Over a Mysterious Island
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Chapters
00:00 &Quot;What It Did Was&Quot; Versus &Quot;What It Did Is&Quot; Versus &Quot;What It Does Is&Quot;
00:20 Accepted Answer Score 6
00:51 Thank you
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Full question
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Tags
#meaning #grammaticality #tenses
#avk47
Rise to the top 3% as a developer or hire one of them at Toptal: https://topt.al/25cXVn
--------------------------------------------------
Music by Eric Matyas
https://www.soundimage.org
Track title: Over a Mysterious Island
--
Chapters
00:00 &Quot;What It Did Was&Quot; Versus &Quot;What It Did Is&Quot; Versus &Quot;What It Does Is&Quot;
00:20 Accepted Answer Score 6
00:51 Thank you
--
Full question
https://english.stackexchange.com/questi...
--
Content licensed under CC BY-SA
https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/lice...
--
Tags
#meaning #grammaticality #tenses
#avk47
ACCEPTED ANSWER
Score 6
"What it did is" has a tense conflict. Since "did" is past tense, it is jarring to use "is" in present tense. "What it did was" is perfectly fine when indicating what something did during a specific event in the past.
"What it does is", on the other hand, doesn't indicate you're describing a specific past event. It indicates that you're either telling us what it is doing now, what it does in general when called upon to do something, or what it would do in a particular situation.