Follow the same pattern throughout a sentence or passage to avoid a shift in tense, person, number, mood, voice, or type of discourse.

E2-a Use one verb tense consistently in a passage unless a tense change is needed to show a time change.

If you tend to mix verb tenses as you draft, perform a special edit of your entire essay concentrating on this one issue.

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Change the tense of any verbs that do not follow the established tense in a passage unless they show logical time changes.

Change verbs to the present tense to discuss events in literature, general truths, facts, and other ongoing principles.

Discussing such events may require tense shifts in a sentence or text. (See also G5-a.)

E2-b Change the nouns and pronouns in a passage to a consistent person and number.

In casual conversation, people often shift between singular and plural or between the third person and the second. In writing, however, such shifts may be confusing.

Note: Also consider how your choice of person suits the tone or approach of your essay. The first or second person, for example, will usually strike a reader as less formal than the third person.

E2-c Establish a consistent mood and voice in a passage.

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The original sentence shifts from the indicative mood (I entered), used for statements and questions, to the subjunctive mood (I could know), used to indicate hypothetical, impossible, or unlikely conditions.

Although mood and voice may need to change to fit the context of a sentence, unneeded shifts may seem inconsistent. (See also G5-c on mood, G5-d on voice, and T2-a on conditional clauses.)

Change the verbs in a conditional clause or passage to a consistent mood.

Make the verbs in a passage consistent, preferably using the active voice.

(See also G5-d.)

E2-d Use either direct or indirect quotation without mixing the two.

Writers use direct quotation to present statements or questions in a speaker’s or another writer’s own words; they use indirect quotation to present the person’s words without quoting directly.

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To avoid shifts between direct and indirect quotation, make sure that your pronouns are consistent in person (see G2) and your verbs are consistent in mood (see G5-c).