Shifts in Verb Tense

Shifts in Verb Tense

NEC FACET Center

What is a verb? A verb is one of the basic parts of speech.  Verbs commonly identify the action performed by the subject of the sentence. 

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Find the Verbs Wendy plays the French horn in her school orchestra.  Garfield dived into the dish of lasagna.  Billows of smoke began to rise skyward.  The defendant smirked at the judge.  The average snowfall in these mountains leaves an accumulation of two new feet of powder. 

Find the Verbs Wendy plays the French horn in her school orchestra.  Garfield dived into the dish of lasagna.  Billows of smoke began to rise skyward.  The defendant smirked at the judge.  The average snowfall in these mountains leaves an accumulation of two new feet of powder. 

What else can a verb do? Not all verbs show action.  Verbs also indicate “state of being.”  We refer to many of the state of being verbs as the “to be” verbs 

Examples of “To Be” Verbs Was Am

Are Is

May be

Has been

Had been

Will be Were

Would be

Might be

All verbs have a tense. Verb tense indicates time.  Verbs can show past, present, and future and can also indicate ongoing actions. 

What is tense?

Examples of Tense with Action Verbs Dance (present)

Danced (past)

Will dance (future)

Additional Examples with Action Verbs Present Perfect: has panicked Past Perfect: had panicked

Future Perfect: will have panicked

Examples of Tense with “To Be” Verbs  

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Present: The antibiotic is effective. Past: The antibiotic was effective. Future: The antibiotic will be effective.

Recognizing Tense

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Although most people do not need to know the names of the more complex verb tenses, recognizing they exist and seeing the differences in their meaning will help writers avoid writing problems.

Additional Examples 

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Present Perfect: The antibiotic has been effective, and the patient is now well. Shows an action that started in the past and is continuing into the present.

Additional Examples 

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Past Perfect: The antibiotic had been effective by the time the semester started. Shows an action that was completed before another past action (before school started)

Additional Examples 

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Future Perfect: The antibiotic will have been effective before the semester starts. Shows an action that will have taken place before another action yet to come.

Reminder Remember you don’t need to know all the tense names, but you should learn to recognize inconsistent use of these tenses.  We call this inconsistent verb use an unnecessary “shift in tense” and consider it an error. 

Changing Tenses 

Do not change verb tense in your writing unless you must do so to show a change in time. March

A Justified Tense Shift This afternoon I will see one new movie. Last week I saw two new movies.  Shifting from future tense to past tense reflects the changing viewing times. 

Unjustified Tense Shift We walk down Greenwood as the jazz bands began to play.  Can you identify the shift in tense? 

Unjustified Tense Shift We walk down Greenwood as the jazz bands began to play.  Walk = present tense  began = past tense 

The Shift Corrected We walk down Greenwood as the jazz bands begin to play. (present tense)  We walked down Greenwood as the jazz bands began to play. (past tense) 

Look for the Tense Shift 

Steam rose from the coffee mug. Charlie snatches his hand away as the sides of the mug become even hotter.

The Tense Shift 

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Steam rose from the coffee mug. Charlie snatches his hand away as the sides of the mug become even hotter. These two words shift from past tense used in the rest of the passage to present tense.

The Tense Shift Revised 

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Steam rose from the coffee snatched mug. Charlie snatches his hand away as the sides of the became mug become even hotter. These two words shift from past tense used in the rest of the passage to present tense.

Look for the Tense Shift 

As Mary looks for a knife in the kitchen, Larry blows out the candles and ran his finger through the frosting.

The Tense Shift 

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As Mary looks for a knife in the kitchen, Larry blows out the candles and ran his finger through the frosting. This verb shifts from present tense used in most of the passage to past tense.

The Tense Shift Revised 

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As Mary looks for a knife in the kitchen, Larry blows out the candles andruns ran his finger through the frosting. This verb shifts from present tense used in most of the passage to past tense.

Look for the Tense Shift 

Dana swabbed the inside of her cheek with a Q-tip, smears the cells on a glass slide, and then looked at them through the microscope.

The Tense Shift Revised 

Dana swabbed the inside of her cheek smeared with a Q-tip, smears the cells on a glass slide, and then looked at them through the microscope.

Look for the Tense Shift

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In the neighborhood, the kids play stickball in the street, they sawed off broom handles for bats and borrow garbage can lids for bases.

The Tense Shift

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In the neighborhood, the kids play stickball in the street; they sawed off broom handles for bats, and borrow garbage can lids for bases.

Look for the Tense Shift 

To get a clear picture, Larry jiggles the tuning knob, adjusts the horizontal hold, and pointed the antenna out the window.

The Tense Shift 

To get a clear picture, Larry jiggles the tuning knob, adjusts the horizontal s hold, and pointed the antenna out the window.

Look for Tense Shifts 

When Tronic Center had a clearance sale, Eric decided to buy a DVR. He thought he could simply plug the machine in and start recording his favorite programs. However, when he drove home, he discovers that connecting the dVR could be complicated and confusing. The directions seemed to have been written for an electrical engineer. After three hours of frustration, Eric gave up and calls a TV repair shop for help.

The Tense Shifts 

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When Tronic Center had a clearance sale, Eric decided to buy a DVR. He thought he could simply plug the machine in and start taping his favorite programs. However, when he drove home, he discovers that connecting the DVR could be complicated and confusing. The directions seemed to have been written for an electrical engineer. After three hours of frustration, Eric gave up and calls a TV repair shop for help. These 2 words shift from past to present tense.

Remember . . .

When you cut out inconsistent verbs, you eliminate possible confusion and make your writing smoother.