Verbs and Conditions
Keeping the tense consistent
Spot the verb that breaks the tense of a passage, and correct it.
Pick a tense and stay in it. A passage that slides from past to present and back again reads as though somebody else took over halfway through — and in an exam, a single stray verb is the difference between a clean paragraph and a marked one.
The rule
Within one passage, keep every verb in the same tense unless the time genuinely changes. If you begin in the past, stay in the past to the end.
When a change IS allowed
A real shift in time earns a shift in tense. "He told us he would come tomorrow" is fine, because the coming really is later than the telling. What is not fine is drifting for no reason.
How to check
Read only the verbs, in a line: opened, walked, knocks. Anything that does not match its neighbours stands out at once. It is far quicker than rereading whole sentences.
Worked example
Find the stray verb: "She entered the room, switched on the light and sees the mess."
List the verbs: entered, switched, sees.
Stripping out everything else makes the odd one obvious.
Try it together
Repair a passage that slips.
The passage is: "Meera unlocked the shop, swept the floor and opens the shutters." Write one word at each step.
1.Read the verbs in a line and write the third one, exactly as it stands in the passage.
Have a go
Correct the odd verb: "He climbed the stairs, unlocked the door and steps inside." Write the corrected verb.
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.