It was difficult to ascertain vs It is difficult to ascertain

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. "It was difficult to ascertain" is used when referring to a past event or situation, while "it is difficult to ascertain" is used when talking about a current or ongoing situation.

Last updated: March 21, 2024 • 978 views

It was difficult to ascertain

This phrase is correct when referring to a past event or situation.

This phrase is used to indicate that something was hard to determine or find out in the past.

Examples:

It was difficult to ascertain the exact cause of the problem.
It was difficult to ascertain his true intentions.

Show examples from the web [+]

It was difficult to ascertain what success had attended his patience. It is impossible to ascertain who these detractors were - possibly British fellow- workers in ...
It was difficult to ascertain which way the judges were leaning. Washington Post Feb 28, 2016. PrevNext. Copyright © 2016 Vocabulary.com All Rights Reserved.
He told the story in such a strange way that it was difficult to ascertain his exact message. To ascertain if his business was actually making a profit, John hired an ...
He said it was difficult to ascertain the impact of ChikV generally. “Most of my patients work hard physically, primarily as labour intensive farmers. ChikV, with the ...

Alternatives:

It was hard to determine
It was challenging to figure out

It is difficult to ascertain

This phrase is correct when talking about a current or ongoing situation.

This phrase is used to indicate that something is currently hard to determine or find out.

Examples:

It is difficult to ascertain the impact of the new policy.
It is difficult to ascertain the accuracy of the data.

Show examples from the web [+]

It is difficult to ascertain the true extent of domestic violence because: a) there is a large 'dark figure' of unreported incidents. b) the changing definitions of legal ...
As so many rapes go unreported each year, it is difficult to ascertain the actual number of sexual assaults. *Word of the Day Email*. Get vocabulary sentences ...
It is impossible to discover even his full name, Gaius or Caius being merely his personal name (praenomen). As with his name it is difficult to ascertain the span ...
Polarization is so much a part of the process of escalation that it is difficult to ascertain if one is the cause of the other. Ikle writes that as soon as two adversaries ...

Alternatives:

It is hard to determine
It is challenging to figure out

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

It was difficult to ascertain vs It is difficult to ascertain