Meanwhile, another common problem area is when we use the verbs went and go.
This is an easy error to make, and a hard one to catch, since we’re trained to read right over dialogue tags. “I’m going to swing by my mom’s house to pick up my mail. In dialogue tags, writers often shift back and forth between said and says. Two of the most common places where writers make tense shift errors are in dialogue tags and when using the verbs go versus went. The second verb here should be “begin,” in order to remain consistent with the present-tense usage of “wait.” Watch out for these two red flags Likewise, watch out for tense shifts in the same sentence: The tense of the verb “remembered” here is inconsistent – the first sentence was written in present tense, and there’s no indication of a shift in time, so the verb in the second sentence should also be present tense – remember instead of remembered. However, we want to be careful of the unintentional tense shift.įor example, let’s look at these two sentences: So far, we’ve looked at examples of correct, intentional tense shifts. Here, you can see the shift from present tense to future tense, and back again-shifts that help the reader clearly follow the events.
I feel a wave of gratitude for her unconditional love. Probably, sheĪs calm and patient as always. My cup of tea on the perfect white couch. If the character imagines something that could or will happen in the future, that would also require a tense shift. Likewise, the same goes for future tense. That use of past tense helps indicate that the events she’s describing took place at a different time than the main events of the story. But as the character slips into a memory, the author uses past tense. In this example, the main timeline of events is written in present tense. Now, as IĪ wave of gratitude for her unconditional love. Me how to blot out the stain with club soda and a clean rag. So ashamed of staining the beautiful white couch, but my grandmother never I suddenlyĪ memory from childhood: a winter afternoon when I Shifts should only happen when you want to indicate that an event happened at a different time than the events in the main timeline of the novel.įor example, a novel that is told in present tense might need to slip into past tense when you’re recounting an event that took place in the past. The tense of the main events are established in chapter one, and need to be consistent throughout the rest of the story. Sometimes, the author will choose to use the simple present tense to tell his or her story: Most often, writers use the simple past tense: But stories and novels need to be more consistent.
In conversation, we slip back and forth between past and present tense all the time, often incorrectly.
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