Dear N K:

You wrote:
> Please help defuse an ongoing grammar war.
> ——————————————-
> “Did she know where the Concierge desk was located?”
> Shouldn’t it be:
> “Did she know where the Concierge desk is located?”
> ==============================
> It is past tense when referring to the person ‘she’ granted, but
> the concierge desk IS located somewhere. I think if you say
> WAS located it would mean that the concierge desk was located in a place
> that it is NO longer located.
>
> PLEASE HELP. THANX.
>
This is one war that honestly is not worth fighting. Both sides are fine.

Sentence #1 is typical whenever a person is telling a story. Standard style is to keep things in the same tense unless there is a good reason not to.

Sentence #2 is OK, especially in a context where the concierge desk is a current topic of discussion.

If you wanted to indicate that the concierge desk had been moved and is longer in the place where it once was, you would say, “Did she know where the concierge desk had been located?” The past perfect tense indicates something that has been done or completed prior to the past action being described (“did know”).

I hope this helps.