Sentence Unity

By: Dr. Joon V. Dizon

Unity means consistency
or oneness…that is, a
sentence or a paragraph
has only one main idea.
To achieve unity, shifts
or changes in tense,
voice, and subject should
be avoided.
Consistency of Tense - The
general rule is that uniformity of
verb tense should be observe
in a sentence, or a paragraph.
If the first verb is in the
present tense, the succeeding
verbs should be in the present.
If the first verb is in the past,
the next verbs should also be
in the past.
Kent stopped me, and said hello.
I closed my book, had a snack,
and then decided to call it a day.
I went into the kitchen, raised the
shade, looked out into the garden,
and then, I saw a wild pig eating
the newly planted cabbages.
Kevin takes all the tests, writes all
the papers, and then he gets only a
2.0.
The general rules according to Catanjal
are:
 
The verb in an adverbial clause generally
agrees with the tense of the verb in the
main clause.
Ex :
Juanito ran to the door when he saw us
coming.
Pres. Manuel Roxas was delivering a
speech when he had a heart attack.
Renz cleared his desk before he left.
A baby usually sleeps after he eats.
The verb in an adjective clause
need not agree in tense with the
verb in the main clause inasmuch
as the two actions are not
necessarily related in time of
occurrence.
Ex: Lilia, who was my classmate in
English 1 last semester, is planning
to go the US.
This is the book (that) I had been
telling you about.
 
The verb in a noun clause is
generally in the past tense if the
verb in the main clause is in the
past tense. The verb remains in the
present tense if the idea expressed
in the noun clause is a universal
truth or a relatively permanent
condition.
Ex: PAG-ASA announced that a
storm was heading towards the
Philippines.
The young people stated that they
would choose the best man.

Amelia claims that she knows all the

answers to the questions.

The student learned from his

experiment that water seeks
its own level.
 
The map indicated that the Philippines
lies in the Torrid Zone.
 Exercises
Write OH OH OH if the tenses of the
sentence are correctly used. Rewrite the
sentences that violate tense unity.

The people of our town agreed that fiesta

can be put to good use.

Ethan was late to his 7:30 class because

the traffic is heavy.
The man who built the Eiffel Tower was
a good engineer.
Everybody prepared to leave as soon as
the bell rings.
World War II formally ended on September
2, 1945 after Japan has signed the
surrender papers.
The government which was established by
Gen. Emilio Aguinaldo proclaimed June 12,
1898 as Philippine Independence Day.
Jose Rizal believed that there exists a
Filipino nation.
Doctors say the one cause of heart failure
is the pressure of modern living.
A citizen can vote as soon as he
had reached the age of
twenty-one.
The tourist learned that Pagsanjan
Falls was in Laguna.
We shall go on an excursion to
Los Banos on Sunday if it would
not rain.
Teresa used to be present at
every meeting, but this week, she
has been absent several times.
No person can exercise his right of
suffrage unless he has registered
with the Commission on Elections.

Christ preached to the people that

they shall love their enemies.

The laborers who did not join the

workers’ union are
independent-minded.