Verb tense is a relatively simple rule. Verb tenses need to be consistent throughout a work to keep from being too distracting. It can be easy to accidentally slip into a different tense, especially if you're writing in a tense that you're not used to. I want to explore the rules of verb tenses in this post, because I've made mistakes with them in the past.
There are several types of verb tenses, but for the purposes of this blog, I'm focusing on the simple tense. Simple tense is best explained through examples:
- Simple past: looked
- Simple present: looks
- Simple future: will look
In simple tense, the verb is generally one or two words. There are other aspects of verb tenses as well, but they all follow one rule: stay consistent. The biggest mistake that you can make with verb tenses is switching to a different tense. Once you establish that you're writing in present tense, you need to stay in present tense unless there is a good reason to switch to a different one. If you aren't consistent, your writing can be confusing and feel like the style changes part way through.
These kinds of errors can pop up in unexpected places. I found one the other day when I was listening to the song "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" by Heather Dale. It retells a story from Arthurian legend, in which one of King Arthur's knights meets a magical green knight. The song tells the story entirely in present tense, save for the part where Sir Gawain first meets the knight. The end of the first verse says: "A giant knight, dressed in green, never seen before / Hefts an axe and holds it high and lets a challenge roar." This is in present tense. But in the next verse, it says: "Sir Gawain... Shouted 'Shame on you brothers on your silence!' / Took the axe and struck his blow, brought the giant low," and so on. In the next verse, it switches right back to telling the story in present tense.
This error is distracting, and can even be confusing. Why is the giant currently making a challenge, but Gawain has already struck him? It doesn't make as much sense as it would if the tense were consistent. The correct way to say these lines would be to say, "Sir Gawain... Shouts 'Shame on you brothers on your silence! / Takes the axe and strikes his blow, brings the giant low," and so on until the verse matches the rest of the song.
So when would it be appropriate to switch to a different verb tense? For the most part, you have to pay attention to the context and make sure that a change makes the most sense. For example, if a quoted person talks about something that has either happened in the past or will happen in the future, you would change tenses for the duration of the quote. Sometimes a short story will have a flashback that's told in past tense to make it clear where it starts and stops. But generally, you want to keep the same verb tense throughout so the writing is less confusing.
Comments
Post a Comment