C 29
Avoiding Tense Shift
As writers, we express the time an action occurs through the verbs in our sentences. The tense of the verb is what helps to indicate the time of an action or condition. For instance, if we want to express that an event happened yesterday, we use the past tense (time):
Yesterday, I walked to school.
We must keep in mind that once we use a particular tense in a sentence or paragraph, we should not shift or change to another tense without a good reason. An unjustified shift can make our writing unclear and confusing.
In this handout, we will look at ways to correct unnecessary tense shifts (changes in the tense/time of verbs), concentrating on simple present and simple past tense uses.
I. PRESENT/PAST DISTINCTION
First of all, let us quickly review when present and past tenses are used.
EXAMPLE 1
Paris is the capital of France.
Ice cream tastes much better than cake.
Students attend school every day.
Remember that when using present tense verbs in sentences, singular subjects require verbs that end in –s and plural subjects do not.
She reads literature in her spare time.
They usually remember to do their homework.
· ACTIONS DEFINITELY COMPLETED IN THE PAST
CORRECT: Mark visited London, England last year.
INCORRECT: In 1980, I arrive in this country via the Mariel-Key West
boat lift.
In addition to knowing when to use the past or present tenses, there are a few spelling rules in past tense that are important to remember. The chart below summarizes them.
Usually, we form past tense by adding –d or –ed to our verbs. However, there are instances when some changes are necessary before we add the –d or –ed endings. The following chart should help us study them.
|
Add –d or –ed |
Double the last consonant |
Change –y to –ied |
Irregulars |
|
Normally, add –d or –ed to form past tense.
Like—liked Breathe—breathed Change—changed Show—showed Walk—walked Look—looked |
A.Double the last consonant if there is a one-syllable word whose last three letters follow the consonant-vowel-consonant (cvc) pattern. Stop—stopped ¯¯¯ cvc Beg—begged ¯¯¯ cvc B. Also double the last consonant if there is a two-syllable word in which the pronunciation stress falls on the last syllable and whose last three letters follow the cvc pattern. Regret—regretted ¯¯¯ cvc Occur—occurred ¯¯¯ cvc |
A. If the letter before the y is a consonant, change y to –ied.
Cry—cried ¯ C Worry—worried ¯ C
B. If the letter before the y is a vowel, just add -ed.
play—played ¯ v |
Some verbs change completely in the past tense.
Bring—brought See—saw Keep—kept
A more complete list follows.
|
|
SIMPLE FORM |
PAST |
||
|
Be Become Begin Blow Break Bring Build Buy Catch Choose Come Cut Do Draw Drink Drive Eat Fall Feed Feel Fight Find Fly Forget Forgive Freeze Get Give Go Grow Have Hear Hide Hold Hurt Keep Know Lay Lead Leave Let Lie Lose Make Meet Pay Quit Read Ride Rise Run Say See Seek Sell Send Shake Shine Sing Sit Sleep Speak Spend Spring Stand Steal Swim Take Teach Tear Tell Think Throw Understand Wake Wear Win Write I have He has |
Was,were Became Began Blew Broke Brought Built Bought Caught Chose Came Cut Did Drew Drank Drove Ate Fell Fed Felt Fought Found Flew Forgot Forgave Froze Got Gave Went Grew Had Heard Hid Held Hurt Kept Knew Laid Led Left Let Lay Lost Made Met Paid Quit Read Rode Rose Ran Said Saw Sought Sold Sent Shook Shone Sang Sat Slept Spoke Spent Sprang Stood Stole Swam Took Taught Tore Told Thought Threw Understood Woke (waked) Wore Won Wrote I had He had |
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Let’s try some exercises. Determine whether the following verbs are in present or past tense. Write an A on the lines provided if the word is in the present tense or a B if it is in the past tense.
Practice your knowledge of past tense spellings. Determine which of the choices given is the correct form for past tense. Circle the correct letter.
6. A. bringed B. brought C. brang D. brangged
7. A. cried B. cryed C. cryd D. cryded
8. A. drives B. drove C. droved D. drived
9. A. permited B. permitted C. permitt D. permits
10. A. pass B. passt C. passed D. pased
II. AVOIDING TENSE SHIFT
So far, we have studied when to use and how to spell certain tenses. Now let’s look at tenses within sentences. Remember that once a sentence is written in a particular tense, we should not change it without a good reason. Let’s look at the following examples.
EXAMPLE 7
INCORRECT: Then, something incredible happened; he and his girlfriend had fainted from the shock.
In this sentence, we have two verbs: one is in the past tense (happened) and one is in the past perfect tense (had fainted). This shift of tenses is unnecessary because both actions are happening at the same time. If we use had fainted, we are reporting that he and his girlfriend fainted before something incredible happened. Since this is not the case, we use past tense both times.
CORRECT: Then, something incredible happened; he and his girlfriend fainted from the shock.
EXAMPLE 8
INCORRECT: I went to my room and I cried because I start thinking about sad moments.
Here, we can see that the first two verbs, went and cried are in past tense, but the last verb, start, is in present tense. The shift to present is not appropriate because all three actions occurred in the past, at the same time.
CORRECT: I went to my room and I cried because I started thinking
about sad moments.
Sometimes, helping or auxiliary verbs will cause problems of tense shift also. The most troublesome helping verbs are the pairs can/could and will/would. Usually, can and will are used when there are present tense verbs.
EXAMPLE 9
INCORRECT: My Venezuelan girlfriend knew that the society of her country will never accept our relationship.
In this sentence, we have a verb in past tense, knew. Therefore, the auxiliary verb that we use should also be in the past tense.
CORRECT: My Venezuelan girlfriend knew that the society of her country would never accept our relationship.
INCORRECT: They have bicycles so that in the afternoons, they could exercise.
Here, the first verb, have, is in present tense; however, the helping verb, could, is in past tense. Both verbs should be in present tense; the auxiliary verb unnecessarily shifts to past tense.
CORRECT: They have bicycles so that in the afternoons, they can exercise.
________________________________________________________________________
Examine each of the following sentences and decide which of the choices given best completes the blank. Circle the letter for the correct answer.
11. Most of my friends ___________ that it is better to pay with a credit than with cash.
A. believes
B. believe
C. believed
12. Children are bright; I know they ___________ understand more than adults give them
A. can
credit for.
13. I was a good swimmer, and all my coaches ___________ it.
A. knew
B. knows
C. know
14. I believed that they ___________ more help, so I gave it to them.
A. wants
B. wanted
C. want
15. I thought that my sister ___________ get a divorce if she got married to her
A. will
B. would
unemployed boyfriend.
Read the following student paragraph paying close attention to the areas underlined, which may contain a tense shift error. Then circle the letter for the correct answer.
My Important Move
My decision to move to the United States was a very important one. I had to
16. A. have
B. hads
C. hadded
D. no error
determine whether I will leave home. I know that if I leaved home, I would be leaving
17.A. wills 18. A. knewed 19. A. leave 20. A. will
B. would B. knew B. left B. wills
C. woulds C. knowed C. leaves C. woulded
D. no error D. no error D. no error D. no error
my closest friends, my boyfriend, and of course, my parents. I also think that if I came
21. A. thinked 22. A. comes
B. tought B. come
C. thought C. cames
D. no error D. no error
here, I will receive a better education, and I would also have the opportunity to become
23. A. wills 24. A. woulds
B. woulded B. wills
C. would C. will
D. no error D. no error
more independent. After a lot of thinking and struggling with myself, I finally decide to
25. A. decided
B. decides
C. decidied
D. no error
move. Today I am glad I made that decision; I still see my friends, my boyfriend and my parents when I go back home, and in addition, I feel more confident about myself.
In the line provided below, rewrite the following student paragraph correcting all tense shift errors. This paragraph contains no other errors except errors in tense shift; therefore, do not make any other changes.
An Important Event
Every human being experiences important moments in his/her lifetime, but there is always one that stands out above the rest. I would never forget the one important event that changed the course of my life. Six years ago, I was in Cuba with my parents and the rest of my family. Then in 1980 my father decide that we will leave the country and come to America. My father did this for us, his children. He want us to have a good future in a land where we can be free to study, make money and buy all the food and all the clothes we want to. We planned the whole thing: to leave via the Mariel-Key West boatlift. We did not tell anybody because then the Committee of the Defense of the Republic (CDR) in our neighborhood will stop us, and our lives will be impossible. One night, my father’s friend, a good friend who knew we are leaving, came to the house to tell us that a bus was coming to a nearby town. When the bus arrive, we got on and think, “This is the first step.” On our way to the port, the bus was egged. Finally, we got to Mariel and after two days of waiting for a boat to pick us up, we leave. It was a terrible trip; we were as afraid of going to this new country as we were of returning to Cuba. When we arrived in Key West, relatives were waiting for us, and we cry. This experience is one of the most important ones in my life. Now, I am not afraid, and I am glad I’m here. Everything worked out fine for my family and me. Now we were free to express ourselves and to buy what we want with our money.
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Index
If score on this handout is 28 or lower, additional work in the following texts is recommended.
TEXTS: Grassroots, The Writer’s Workbook by: Fawcett and Sandberg.
Evergreen by: Fawcett and Sandberg
By: Caridad Castro
Ivonne Lamazares
Elena Perez
Revised by: Elisa Dueñas
July 11, 2001