Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[fw]

I often find sentence #1 below in exercise books at hand.
My question is:

Is sentence #2 grammatically correct and natural English?

1. He is the greatest scientist that ever lived.
2. He is the greatest scientist that has ever lived.

Best regards,
Fw

[ab]

Yes, both of these sentences are OK.

In this example, the word "has" does not dramatically change the meaning implied by the sentence
_________________
ab2146

[fw]

Thank you, ab.

Your comment really helps.

fw

[fw]

Hello everyone.

Let me ask one more follow-up question.

Which is more natural, #1or #2?

1. Tiger Woods is the greatest golfer that ever lived.
2. Tiger Woods is the greaterst gofer that has ever lived.

fw

[Airth]

I would also say that you can go with either. Here is an example from the BBC website that quoted the actor Kevin Spacey;