Choosing and keeping tenses

A good piece of writing chooses a tense and keeps to it. A story about yesterday stays in the past; a description of what happens every day stays in the present. Change the tense only when the time you are writing about changes: ⟦I live in Cape Town now, but I lived in Durban when I was small.⟧

Key facts

  • Choose the tense for the time: past for finished events (⟦went⟧), present for habits and facts (⟦go⟧), future for later (⟦will go⟧).
  • Keep every verb in that tense: ⟦Yesterday I went to the park and played football.⟧ (not ⟦play⟧).
  • Time words are clues: ⟦yesterday⟧, ⟦last week⟧, ⟦in 1969⟧ (past); ⟦every day⟧, ⟦usually⟧ (present); ⟦tomorrow⟧ (future).
  • Change tense only with a change of time: ⟦She is tired today because she worked late yesterday.⟧
  • When you check your work, find every verb and ask: does it match the time?

Worked examples

Example 1

Correct it: ⟦Last summer we visited Cairo and see the pyramids.⟧

  1. ⟦Last summer⟧ shows the past.
  2. ⟦see⟧ must be in the past too: ⟦saw⟧.

Answer: ⟦Last summer we visited Cairo and saw the pyramids.⟧

Example 2

Choose: ⟦Every evening Grandpa reads the paper and ___ a cup of tea.⟧ (⟦drank⟧ / ⟦drinks⟧)

  1. ⟦Every evening⟧ and ⟦reads⟧ show a habit in the present.
  2. ⟦drinks⟧ keeps the present tense.

Answer: ⟦drinks⟧

Example 3

Is this correct? ⟦The museum was built in 1890 and is still open today.⟧

  1. ⟦was built⟧ is about 1890: past.
  2. ⟦is still open today⟧ is about now: present. The tense changes because the time changes.

Answer: Yes