ESL 100 – Ford
Grammar Lesson: Consistent Verb Tense
Name:
1
CONSISTENT VERB TENSE
INTRODUCTORY PROJECT
See if you can find and underline the three mistakes in verb tense in the following
passage:
An only child, Jaime was a growing nine-year-old boy in my fourth-grade
class. At home, his diet consisted of cold cereal and bologna sandwiches.
His dad was a single parent who works the second shift in a local factory
welding semi trailers. As I was going through the lunch line one day, I
noticed Jaime requesting an additional portion of pizza for his school lunch
which the cooks deny. When I asked the cooks about it, one of them said,
"That kid is always hungry." That settled it. Without his knowing who
furnished it, there was an extra lunch for Jaime every day for the rest of
the year. I feel good knowing that Jaime wasn't going hungry, even though
my meager beginning teacher's salary was barely enough for me to pay
my bills and repay my college loans.
Now try to complete the following statement:
Verb tense should be consistent. In the previous passage, three verbs
have to be changed because they are mistakenly in the (present, past)
tense while all of the other verbs in the passage are in the (present, past)
tense.
KEEPING TENSES CONSISTENT
Do not shift tenses unnecessarily. If you begin writing a paper in the present tense, do
not shift suddenly to the past. If you begin in the past, do not shift without reason to the
present. Notice the inconsistent verb tenses in the following selection:
As a teacher, I knew that Jaime could not learn with hunger foremost in his mind.
For him, the purpose of school is not only to learn the three Rs of reading,
writing, and arithmetic, but it was also to serve as a social function. Since Jaime
was an only child, he is also starved for interaction with other children his age.
The verbs must be consistently in the present tense:
As a teacher, I know that Jaime can not learn with hunger foremost in his mind.
For him, the purpose of school is not only to learn the three Rs of reading,
writing, and arithmetic, but it is also to serve as a social function. Since Jaime is
an only child, he is also starved for interaction with other children his age.
Or the verbs must be consistently in the past tense:
As a teacher, I knew that Jaime could not learn with hunger foremost in his mind.
For him, the purpose of school was not only to learn the three Rs of reading,
writing, and arithmetic, but it was also to serve as a social function. Since Jaime
was an only child, he was also starved for interaction with other children his age.