TENSE ERRORS

Inconsistent Verbs

Verbs must be consistent as long as the writer is focused on one passage or idea. Be careful not to switch tenses within a sentence.

Yasir was watching television when he stands up and fixes a snack.

The tense in this sentence changes from past progressive to present. The appropriate tense here should be past tense.

Yasir was watching television when he stood up and fixed a snack.

In this example, the entire sentence is in past tense, with past progressive showing the continuation action.

 

Tense errors occur when the verb is inconsistent within a sentence or a paragraph, or when modifiers are unnecessarily added and change tense. Here are the two most common tense errors.

Each student will complete a reading project. He or she reads a book, creates a visual based on the assigned book, and presents it to the class.

In this example, the tense jump from one sentence to the next. The assignment will take place in the future. Therefore, the work will be completed in the future.

Each student will complete a reading project. He or she will read a book, create a visual based on the assigned book, and present it to the class.

The sentence is now correct. All of the actions will take place in the future.

Wrong Tense or Verb Form Some verb errors occur simply because modifiers are needlessly added. In

these cases, the tense is altered without reason. In other cases, the wrong case is accidentally used.

I had learned to read at a young age.

In this sentence, the use of had is gratuitous. The tense is past perfect, when it should be simple past tense.

I learned to read at a young age.In this example, the use of past tense is appropriate. Remember that past perfect involves more than one time period in the past.

I had learned to read before I turned 5 years old.

In this sentence, the use of past perfect is appropriate. Keep in mind that the use of auxiliary verb changes the tense.

Karen has spoke Mandarin and English since childhood .

In this case, the verb to speak is conjugated incorrectly. The use of perfect tense is the correct choice, but instead of the past tense, the past participle is needed.

Karen has spoken Mandarin and English since childhood.

Here, the verb is conjugated correctly.

Kim drunk three glasses of strawberry juice.

This example is incorrect because the past participle of the irregular verb to drink is substituted for the past tense.

Kim drank three glasses of strawberry juice.

This sentence correctly uses the past tense of the verb to drink.