Consistent Verb Tense

One common mistake that’s easy to make, but also easy to skip over, is consistent verb tenses in a paper. When you’re writing, you don’t want to start a paragraph in past tense but shift to present tense halfway through – it makes it hard for the reader to follow you.

Today a student came in and we worked some structural issues for a descriptive paper she was writing. At the end I asked her if there was anything else she wanted help with and she mentioned she sometimes has problems with her verb tenses. I didn’t even think about it until she mentioned it. When students are worried about word choice and correct information in a paper, sometimes verb tense gets tossed to the side in favor of other, seemingly more important issues. After this reminder today, though, I’ll try to keep verb tense in the back of my mind in future sessions.

The general rules are simple:

• Keep events that happened in the past in past tense (and the present with present tense, and the future with future tense).

• Habitual actions and facts are in present tense since they always happen or are always true.

• It’s OK to change tense when describing things that happen at different times, or if you are describing a past event and put in a habitual action.

Take a look at my second paragraph, the one that starts with “Today.” I change tense in that paragraph, but it works. I start out describing what happened at one tutoring session earlier today in past tense(the first three sentences). Then I describe a habitual action of students, which I believe is always the same, so it’s in present tense. Then I described a future action I plan to do in future tense. If I were to leave it in all present tense, it wouldn’t be very clear.

To catch potential inconsistent verb tenses:

• Go through your paper and circle all your verbs as you read them, and make sure they’re the same tense (unless it fits the last two rules). This is especially important when describing an event, because inconsistent verb tenses can throw off a reader and make it hard to understand what’s going on.

Tenses in common types of academic papers:

• When writing a paper that analyses a theory, such as for psychology, sociology, biology, etc., writing is usually in present tense. For example: The theory of diffusion of responsibility explains why people don’t always call 911 or help during emergencies. I would go on to talk about how people do not feel as responsible when other people are present. However, if past examples are used instead of just habitual actions or general factual statements, such as Kitty Genovese’s death in 1964, use past tense: When Kitty Genovese was stabbed in New York, many people were in their homes and heard her screams, but most thought neighbors probably called the police.

• For historical analysis papers, usually in English Lit. classes, use past tense. For example: Ernest Hemingway’s military experience in Europe during World War I influenced themes, characters and plot lines in his writing…Hemingway served as an ambulance driver in World War I, and after being injured, he fell in love with his nurse… (but I will switch to present tense when describing what happens in the book), which also describes the character of Frederic Henry and his experience in A Farewell To Arms.

• Lab reports use past tense (and usually in passive form) – the experiment was conducted at a past date: Ten isopods were placed in each container. The isopods were observed and their movements were recorded at each five-minute interval.

• Argumentative papers tend to be mixed because they mix factual statements and specific examples that usually occur in the past.

The Purdue OWL has a good, thorough explanation of how to be consistent with your verb tenses.