Grammar, please

[butterflydreaming]

Which is correct when one person is alive and the other is deceased?

1."They both knew how to... ."
2."They both know how to... ."

Awkward no matter which.

Comments

I'd go with the first

[the-same-andrew.livejournal.com]

I'd go with the first. You could (as your Friends above have rightly pointed out) re-word the whole thing to avoid the awkward structure. However, going with your option 1) would emphasize the commonality that remains between the live one and the dead one, in the speaker's own perception. If it's a literary narrative thing, it might be worth using the awkward form and then remarking on it in the speaker's own voice.

Re: I'd go with the first

[shadow-and-veil.livejournal.com]

Thankfully (?), it was in conversation. It did seem a little better to go with the thing currently true of both -- that at some point in the past, both people knew how to do such and such -- rather than choose the tense that indicated that both parties currently could do so.

:)