Tense Consistency 

Writing often involves telling stories. Sometimes we narrate a story or an anecdote or hypothesize scenarios as illustrations or examples. Therefore, temporal relations should be clearly understood and explicitly established to avoid confusing an audience or a reader. Changing tense, when it is unnecessary or inappropriate, can confuse your reader about the main and subordinate relationships among various narrated events.

The sequence of tenses for the main discourse indicates that the verb form in the subordinate clause agrees with that of the main clause in the narrative. Many languages, for instance, French and Spanish, require a strict form of tense agreement when writing or narrating. Even apparently non-narrative writing may contain a brief narrative episode, and you should use the same principles of tense consistency and clarity. We may take note of the following general rules:

1. Do not shift from one tense to another if the time frame for each action or state is the same, for example:

• A stream ocean contains rich minerals that washed down from rivers and stream ocean contains rich minerals that washed down from rivers
• The ocean contains rich minerals that wash down from rivers.
• About noon, the sky darkened, a breeze sprang up, and a low rumble announces the approaching storm.

Contains is present tense; referring to a current state; washed down is past but should be present (wash down) because of the current version of the sentence:

• The ocean contains rich minerals that wash down from rivers.

2. Maintain a shift in tense when necessary to show different time frames, for example:

• The children love their new tree house which they build themselves.
• The children love their new tree house which they built themselves.

Love is present tense, referring to a current state (they still love it now); built is past, referring to an action completed before the current time frame (they are not still building it).

• Before they even begin deliberations, the jury had reached a verdict.
• Before they even began deliberations, the jury had reached a verdict.

Began is past tense, referring to an action completed before the current time frame; had reached is past perfect, referring to an action from the time frame before that of another past event (the action of reaching was completed before the action of beginning).

Using Other Tenses in Conjunction with Simple Tenses

It is not always easy (or especially helpful) to try to distinguish perfect and/or progressive tenses from simple ones in isolation, for example, the difference between simple past progressive (‘She was eating an apple’) and present perfect progressive (‘She has been eating an apple’). Distinguishing these sentences in isolation is possible, but the differences between them make clear sense only in the context of other sentences since the time distinctions suggested by different tenses are relative to the time frame implied by the verb tenses in surrounding sentences or clauses.

For simple past narration with perfect and progressive elements, consider the excerpt below:

“By the time Peter noticed the doorbell, it had already rung three times. As usual, he had been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turned the stereo down and stood up to answer the door. An old man was standing on the steps. The man began to speak slowly, asking for directions.”

In this example, the progressive verbs had been listening and was standing suggest action underway as some other action took place. The had been listening was underway when the doorbell rang. The standing on the steps was underway when the door was opened. The past perfect progressive verb had been listening suggests an action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that was still underway as another action began. If the primary narration is in the present tense, then the present progressive or present perfect progressive is used to indicate an action that is or has been underway as some other action begins. This narrative style might be used to describe a scene from a novel, movie, or play, since action in fictional narratives is conventionally treated as always present. For example, we refer to the scene in Hamlet in which the Prince first speaks (present) to the ghost of his dead father or the final scene in Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing, which takes place (present) the day after Mookie has smashed (present perfect) the Pizzeria window. If the sample narrative above were a scene in a play, movie, or novel, it might appear as follows with simple present narration with perfect progressive elements:

“By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it has already rung three times. As usual, he has been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turns the stereo down and stands up to answer the door. An old man is standing on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for directions.”

In this excerpt as in the first one, the progressive verbs has been listening and is standing indicate actions underway as some other actions take place. The present perfect progressive verb has been listening suggests an action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that is still underway as another action begins. In all of these cases, the progressive or -ing part of the verb merely indicates an ongoing action, that is, an action underway as another action occurs. The general comments about tense relationships apply to simple and perfect tenses, regardless of whether there is a progressive element involved.

It is possible to imagine a narrative based on a future time frame as well, for example, the predictions of a psychic or a futurist. If the narrative above were spoken by a psychic, it may appear as follows:

“By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it will have already rung three times. As usual, he will have been listening to loud music on his stereo. He will turn the stereo down… stereo down and will stand up to answer the door. An old man will be standing on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for directions.”

Conditional Sentences

We had the occasion to examine the sequence of tenses in English. A sequence of tenses is important in conditional sentences. The sentences we shall now examine are known as conditional clauses or if-clauses. They are used to express a certain condition in the main clause when this is fulfilled.

There are three types of conditional sentences:

1. Conditional Sentence Type 1 refers to the future. An action in the future will only happen if a certain condition is fulfilled by that time: it is likely to happen. The condition is always very likely that the condition will be fulfilled. Consider the following:

• If I find her address, I will send her an invitation.
• If he comes on time, I will allow him in.

2. Conditional Sentence Type 2 refers to situations in the present. An action could happen if the present situation were different. We do not really expect the situation to change, however. The discussion, which of course, implies that the condition is either very unlikely or that it is not going to be fulfilled. Notice the use of the hypothetical situation:

• If I found her address, I would send her an invitation.
• If I had the money, I would buy a Mercedes.

3. Conditional Sentence Type 3 refers to situations in the past. An action could have happened in the past if a certain condition had been fulfilled.

• were different then, however. We just imagine what would have happened if the situation had been different.
• If I had known her address, I would have sent her an invitation.
• If the boys had not gone there, they would not have been arrested.

Exercise
Use this excerpt to answer the questions that follow:

“In my head, alarm bells continued to jangle, warning me that discretion was now obviated. What mattered was to establish his exact whereabouts of the time. It would be no exaggeration to state that I had now become obsessed in finding out why I wanted to find out so badly – even to see only to my own relief. I wanted to be more than I had ever craved any object of desire in my life before. I reflected, long after it was all over and analysed my state of mind during reception.”
Source: ‘You Must Set Forth at Dawn’ by Wole Soyinka, p.21

• (a) Rewrite the entire quotation using the present tense of verbs.
• (b) Write out all the perfect tense verbs in the quotation.

For Further Reading

• Downing, A. & Locke, P. (2006). English Grammar: A University Course. London: Routledge.
• King, R. (2000). Good Grammar. Glasgow: Harper Collins Publishers.
• Muir, J. (1972). A Modern Approach to English Grammar. London: Batsford.
• Palmer, F. R. (1974). The English Verb. London: Longman.

See more

Mastering Tense and Tense Sequences in English: A Comprehensive Guide

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE ON PHRASES AND CLAUSES IN ENGLISH

All You Need to Know About Function Words

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE ON THE ENGLISH WORD/VOCABULARY

A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE ABOUT AGREEMENT BETWEEN SUBJECT AND VERB