Tense Consistency

Controlling shifts in Tense:

General Guideline:

A shift in tense is often necessary to convey your meaning, but an inappropriate shift will confuse your reader. Do not shift from one tense to another if the time of each action stays the same.

Examples

Explanation: "contains" is present, "washed" is present (wash)

darkened is past, sprang up is past, announces is past (announced)

Remember: Same time of actions --- same tense.

	The ocean contains rich minerals which washed down from the rivers and streams.
	About noon the sky darkened, a breeze sprang up, and a low rumble announces the approaching storm.

General Guideline:

A shift in tense will inform your reader of a time difference. Do shift tense to show variations in time.

love is present, built is past.

(The children built he tree house earlier, but they love it now.)

returned is past, had reached is past perfect.

(Both actions happened in the past, but not at the same time. The Jury members reached the verdict first then returned.)

are installing is present tense, will need is future tense.

(Workers are now installing loudspeakers to be used later.)

	The children love their new tree house, which they built themselves.
	The members of the jury returned after they had reached a verdict.
	Workers are installing extra loudspeakers because the music in tonight's concert will need amplification.

Remember: Shift in time of actions ----> shift in tense.

Controlling Shifts in a Paragraph

General Guideline:

Establish a main tense and stick to it unless your meaning calls for a different tense.

Hints:

Rely on past tense to narrate events and to refer to an author's ideas not tied to a particular work.

Use present tense to state facts and to discuss your own ideas and those expressed by an author in a given work. Occasionally, for dramatic effect, you may wish to narrate an event in present tense, as though it were happening now.

Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including the use of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and other adverbs of time, and a wide range of contextual clues.

Sample paragraph

Main tense past. Tense shifts are inappropriate and are in bold.

The gravel crunched and spattered beneath the wheels of the bus as it swung into the station. Outside the window shadowy figures peered at the bus through the darkness. Somewhere in the crowd two, maybe three, people were waiting for me -- a woman, her son, and possible her husband. I could not prevent my imagination from churning out a picture of them, the town, and the place I will soon call home. Hesitating a moment, I rise from my seat, these images flashing through my mind. (adapted from a narrative)

Inappropriate shifts from past to present, such as those that appear in the above paragraph, are sometimes hard to resist. The writer becomes drawn into the narrative and begins to re-live the event as an on-going experience. Occasional abandonment of the past tense as the main tense results in confusion.

Sample paragraph

Main tense present. Tense shifts, all appropriate, are in bold.

A dragonfly rests on a branch overhanging a small stream this July morning. It is newly emerged from brown nymphal skin. As a nymph, it crept over the rocks of the stream bottom, feeding first on protozoans and mites, then, as it grew larger, on the young of other aquatic insects. Now an adult, it will feed on flying insects and eventually will mate. The mature dragonfly is completely transformed from the drab creature that once blended with underwater sticks and leaves. Its head, thorax, and abdomen glitter; its wings are iridescent in the sunlight. (adapted from a magazine article in Wilderness)

This writer uses the present tense to describe the appearance of a dragonfly on a particular July morning. However, both past and future tenses are called for when she refers to the way the insect used to be and to its predictable activity in the future.