Shifts in verb tense

Consistent verb tenses clearly establish the time of the actions being described. When a passage begins in one tense and then shifts without warning and for no reason to another, readers can be distracted and confused.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: There was no way I could fight the current. Just as I was losing hope, a stranger jumps off a passing board and swims toward me. Revised sentence: There was no way I could fight the current. Just as I was losing hope, a stranger jumped off a passing board and swam toward me.

Example sentence with editing. Original sentence: The scarlet letter is a punishment sternly placed on Hester's breast by the community, and yet it was an extremely fanciful and imaginative product of Hester's own needlework. Revised sentence: The scarlet letter is a punishment sternly placed on Hester's breast by the community, and yet it is an extremely fanciful and imaginative product of Hester's own needlework.

Writers often encounter difficulty with verb tenses when writing about literature, as in the second example. The literary convention is to describe fictional events in the present tense.

Exercises:

Shifts: tense

All shifts 1

All shifts 2

Editing for shifts