I think every one of us needs a cellphone. Cellphones have
become part of daily life and I've always got mine with me.
I'd just like to know if replacing have become with became would still be grammatically acceptable?
What changes could be done to make became somehow fit?
Best Answer
Saying “cellphones became part of daily life” is grammatically valid on its own, but in the given sentence it would seem at least a little strange.
Shifting the verb in this way leaves the listener wondering when exactly cellphones became a part of daily life. The sentence doesn't mention this, and it's not something the speaker seems to care about. The rest of the passage discusses the current state of the world. As of now, cellphones are a part of daily life. Many people can agree on this, even if they wouldn't know (or couldn't agree on) a specific timeframe.
With something like this, there's not a clearly defined point at which the transition in question occurred. It's a subjective evaluation, not a statement of fact, so it doesn't really work to use “became” the way one might legitimately say “In 2002, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone.”