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Tense Consistency
Tense Consistency
Quarter 4, Module 5
Lesson 5, Tense Consistency
Lesson 4
EN9G-IVi-25: Observe tense consistency in writing an evaluation
Evaluative Writing
In class, you might be asked to write book reports or to criticize a play or movie that
you watched. These are examples of evaluative writing, which might be confusing to
write because you are trying to narrate or explain what happened in the source material
(e.g., book, movie) while simultaneously discussing your own opinions to the reader.
This confusion might be reflected in an inconsistent verb tense.
Verb Tense
The verb tense indicates when an action happens or is done. The three basic tenses
are: past, present, and future.
Tense Consistency
The basic rule is to make sure that your tense is consistent throughout your entire
composition. If you began with the present tense, then you should use the present
tense for all the verbs that appear in the text.
Example:
Last night, Monk Gyatsu took off his bead necklace and held it in his hand as
he sits down by the river to meditate.
Explanation:
In this example, the present tense of the verb sits is inconsistent with the rest of the
verbs in the sentence, which are in the past tense because the event happened last
night. The sentence should be written as:
Last night, Monk Gyatsu took off his bead necklace and held it in his hand as
he sat down by the river to meditate.
Example:
Joanne forever remembered her Lola Mimi, who called her Joneng, taught her how to
crochet and sang lullabies to her every night.
Explanation:
The tense consistency in this sentence is not necessarily incorrect. Everything Lola
Mimi did in the past should be in the past tense. However, the phrase Joanne forever
rememberedcould cause some confusion. Forever should indicate an action that occurs
into an indefinite future, like so:
Joanne will forever remember her Lola Mimi, who called her Joneng, taught her how
to crochet and sang lullabies to her every night.
But the first sentence is still correct if the writer simply meant to narrate events from the
past. For instance, we could assume that Joanne already passed away and her
"forever" has ended. Also, the writer could be recalling the events in a fictional story that
he already finished reading. Hence, the story has ended.
The episode begins with Kyle waking up to see Bogart being tranquilized by an ABG
Gang member. He calls for help and both Jesse and Georgina storm the room with
karate kicks and punches. The other gang members respond with crossbows shooting
poison darts everywhere. Jesse gets shot in the thigh and Kyle gets two darts on the
forehead. The poison knocks them both out cold. Georgina is the only one left fighting
now. She picks up Bogart's billiard stick and breaks it in half then busts out her best
arnis moves.
This is what I like most about The Runaways. The show gives every member the
chance to shine and do what they do best. I will definitely recommend this show to
everyone.
Explanation:
Notice how many times the tense shifted in this composition without being
grammatically incorrect. In the first paragraph, the writer first used the past tense to talk
about an event that happened in the past, which is the airing of the latest episode of a
TV show.
The tense shifts to the present tense in the second paragraph because the writer
wanted to narrate the events that happened within the episode as if the reader were
seeing it with along with him. The last paragraph contains several tense shifts. He uses
the present tense to talk about his current opinion on the show. He ends with a future
tense because he is talking about his future intention.
composition.
Exercise A.
1. It is a piece of writing meant to give a judgment or appraisal of a text in a
thoughtful and careful way.
2. The verb __________ indicates when an action happens or is done.
3. There are _________ basic verb tenses.
a. three
b. six
c. nine
d. twelve
4. When a sentence begins in the present tense, the other verbs should be
________.
a. in the past tense
b. in the future tense
c. in the present tense as well
d. in the plural form
Answer Key:
A
1. Evaluation
2. Tense
3. A
4. C
5. A
6. A
7. B
8. A
9. A
10. B