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Consistent Verb Tense The tense of a verb tells when an action occurs, occurred, or will occur. Verbs have three basic tenses: present, past, and future. It's important to keep verb tenses consistent as you write. A passage that begins in present tense should continue in present tense. If it begins in past tense, it should stay in past tense. Do not mix tenses. Wrong: Dan opened the car door and looks for his briefcase. Correct: Dan opened the car door and looked for his briefcase Wrong: When we increase maintenance services, we reduced repair costs. Correct: When we increase maintenance services, we reduce repair costs. However, sometimes a writer must show that an action occurred at another time regardless of the tense in which the passage was begun. To allow this, each of these three tenses has three subdivisions: progressive, perfect, and progressive perfect. |
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