USING CORRECT VERB TENSESPresent, Past, and Tense Shifting

Tense Shifting

• Verb tense indicates when the action in a sentence occurred. The present tense is used to state facts or make generalizations. The past tense is used to narrate events completed in the past.

• Errors in action…• Whenever we went to a restaurant, Robert always makes a

fuss about ordering the best wine.

• She went to Trident Technical College, which was in South Carolina.

Identifying Errors

• Past Tense Tip: Use the past tense when telling a story about something that was completed in the past.

Error: Whenever we went (past) to a restaurant, Robert always makes (present) a fuss about ordering the best wine.

Tip Applied: Tell a story! Use past tense throughout.

Correction: Whenever we went to a restaurant, Robert always made a fuss about ordering the best wine.

Identifying Errors

• Present Tense Tip: Use the present tense to make “timeless” statements of fact or generalization that are true now and will continue to be true indefinitely unless something happens to change the situation.

Error: Whenever we went (past) to a restaurant, Robert always makes (present) a fuss about ordering the best wine.

Tip Applied: Make a statement. Use present tense throughout.

Correction: Whenever we go to a restaurant, Robert always makes a fuss about ordering the best wine.

1. Headlights that stay on all the time has significantly reduced automobile accidents.

2. Young people be using their landlines less and less often.

3. I get a very surprising phone call.

4. The team’s bus have a minor accident and they miss their first game.

5. Halloween often frighten young children.

1. I leave my towel in the locker that be nearest the door.

2. The fact that Hawaii do not go on daylight savings time always confuse people.

3. I usually check my e-mail as soon as I get back from lunch.

4. He deposit the money in an account that he keep at the local credit union.

5. The accident occur on a stretch of road that have bad reputation for being dangerous.

1. I think that a matinee performance typically (started / starts) at two.2. I got a shock when I (plug / plugged) that old lamp in.3. She always calls her children when she (is / was) going to be late.4. Artists today are still influenced by the art styles that (originate /

originated) in prewar Germany.5. After all our work, we discovered that the answer (is / was) in the

back of the book.6. He makes it sound like every little problem (is / was) a major

crisis.7. My parents always traveled first class, which (seems / seemed)

ostentatious today.8. The guide informed us that the trains for Rome (leave / left) from

Platform 3. 9. It is amusing that the governor (pretends / pretended) that he was a

simple man of the people.10. It is really true; the French (do / did) go on vacation all August.

Even though Shakespeare died in 1616, performances of his

plays had continued without interruption right up to today. I

recently attend the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in

Ashland, Oregon. In planning the performances, the

director has to make some big decisions about how to stage

plays that were more than 350 years old. The biggest

problem for all directors today was whether to present

Shakespearian plays in period costume or in more modern

dress. (5)

Staging the plays in modern dress made the plays more

interesting and often a lot more fun. For example, in a

performance of Henry IV, Part I at Ashland a few years ago,

Falstaff comes on stage for the first time on a motor scooter with

a case of beer strapped on behind. Sometimes, staging plays in

different time periods allowed the director to make political or

social comments. An outstanding example of this was the 1995

movie version of Richard III with Ian McKellen in an imaginary

Fascist England in the 1930s. McKellen’s performance as an all-

powerful, sadistic ruler in an authoritarian state chilled the

viewers’ blood. (5)

Shakespeare was certainly the most influential playwright in the

history of drama. Given the fact that his plays are written about

four hundred years ago in a language that is now quite hard to

follow, it was a testament to his importance that so many of his

plays were still staged today. Another measure of Shakespeare’s

importance was the number of his plays that appeared as operas,

ballets, and movies. Three movies based on Shakespeare’s plays

had won Oscars for best picture. They are Hamlet in 1948; West

Side Story (based on Romeo and Juliet) in 1961; and

Shakespeare in Love (about the writing of Romeo and Juliet) in

1998. (6)

Apply What You Know

• On a separate sheet of loose-leaf paper, write two paragraphs about a play or movie you have seen recently.

• Try to mix past tense descriptions of the action and present tense generalizations about the meaning or effectiveness of the play or movie.

• Use the Past Tense and Present Tense Tips to make sure that the tenses in your essay are correct.