Explanation of Verb Tense Consistency-What is verb tense consistency?

Verb tense consistency refers to maintaining identical tense throughout a clause. The goal is to avoid having a single
time period being described in multiple tenses. In the event that you are referring to more than one time period, it is
advisable to start a new clause or a new sentence altogether.

Take into consideration this example, where the sentence contains multiple tense:

Joan finished her homework, feeds the dog, and went to the gym.

Not only is it confusing, it is grammatically incorrect. Finished and went are both written in past tense, but feeds is
written in present tense. Joan’s actions shift from past to present and then back to past, which is completely illogical.
There are a few ways that this sentence could be corrected.

Joan finished her homework, fed the dog, and went to the gym.

Joan finished her homework and went to the gym, and is now feeding the dog.

In the later example, Joan’s past actions are demonstrated in the first clause, and her present actions are demonstrated
in a new clause – one that has its own subject and verb.

The agreement between verb tenses will either stay present or past – never both.

Think for a minute about the erroneous time shift in the sentence below:

The winds along the countryside blow the fences over when the storm got bad.

In the above example, it is unclear if the storm is causing damage in the present or if it caused damage in the past. In
order to guarantee verb consistency, the author must select either one or the other.

The winds along the countryside blow the fences over when the storms get bad.

OR: The winds along the countryside blew the fences over when the storm got bad.

Verb tense consistency is of particular importance whenever attempting to illustrate cause and effect over a period of
time, and whenever a secondary action requires a new clause to be started.

I’m drinking the coffee that I made this afternoon.

The verb tense agreement in the above example appears to be logical because the coffee needs to be made before
drinking. I’m drinking the coffee is a clause all on its own; a new clause is signified with the use of the word that. The
new clause includes its own subject (I) and a verb (made). If you pay careful attention to verb tense agreement, you will
increase the chances of your writing being better understood by your audience.

Verb Tense Consistency – How to Control It

One of the greatest steps to ensuring verb tense consistency comes from learning how to control shifts in verb tense.
This is not a difficult task.

Considering that writing often involves the task of telling a story, there are times where we might narrate a story, or
choose to include a short anecdote or even a hypothetical situation as a point of reference or to illustrate our point in an
essay.

Even when writing an essay that does not specially tell a story there might be implied time frames for the actions that
are being discussed or argued. Changes in verb tense will help the audience to better understand the correlation of the
events being discussed. But unnecessary or inconsistent shifts in verb tense will ultimately cause confusion.
Typically, a writer will choose to maintain a single verb tense for the main narrative and then will indicate changes in
time frames by changing tenses to either simple past or simple present. Even non-narrative writing should maintain verb
tense consistency.

As a rule of thumb, avoid shifting from one tense to another if the time frame for each action is the same.

For example, the teacher explains the math problem to the students who asked questions during the midterm.

Explains is in present tense and asked is in past tense. Asked should be written in present tense (ask) because the
students are currently asking questions during the midterm.

The above example, if written following the rules of verb tense consistency, should look like this: The teacher explains
the math problems to the students who ask questions during the midterm.

Here is another example: About 5:00PM the sky clouded over, the wind picked up, and a loud boom announces
approaching thunder.

Clouded and picked up are written in past tense, whereas announces is written in present tense, but should actually be
written in past tense (announced.)

If the above mentioned example had been written with proper verb tense consistency, it would have looked like this:
About 5:00PM, the sky clouded over, the wind picked up, and a loud boom announced approaching thunder.

As a rule of thumb, it is acceptable to shift tense in order to indicate a change in timeframe from one action to another.

Here is an example: The sisters love their new dollhouse, their dad built it for them.

Love is written in present tense (they still love it currently) and built is written in past tense because it refers to
something that had happened (and was completed) prior to the current moment in time. (Their dad is not still building
it.)

Here is another example: Before the students had even started their presentations, the teacher had guessed who
would do the best job.

Started is written in past tense because it refers to something that has been completed before present time; had
guessed is written in past perfect because it refers to an action from a moment in time that is prior to that of another
past event. (the action of guessing was concluded prior to the action of starting)

How to Control Shifts in a Paragraph or Essay

As a general rule of thumb, it is important to establish a primary tense for the main clause and use occasional shifts
whenever it is necessary to indicated changes in time or period.

Tips and Guidelines: Use past tense when narrating events or when referring to an author or their ideas as historical
entities (bibliographical information, etc.)

Rely on present tense whenever stating the facts, referring to habitual or perpetual actions or when discussing your
own thoughts and ideas or those expressed by an author in their work. Present tense should also be used to
demonstrate or describe action in literature, a movie or fictional narratives. For dramatic effect, you might choose to
narrate an event or occurrence in present tense as if it were happening currently. If you do choose to do this, remember
to use present tense consistently through the narrative and only make shifts where it is appropriate to do so.

You can express future action in a number of ways, including by using will, shall, is going to, are about to, next week,
and other adverbs to describe time.