Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Maintain consistent verb tenses
Eliminate distracting shifts
Clarity

Consistent verb tenses clearly establish the time of the actions being described. When a passage begins in one tense and then shifts to another for no reason, readers are distracted and confused.

Writers often encounter difficulty with verb tenses when writing about literature. Because fictional events occur outside the time frames of real life, the past tense and the present tense may seem equally appropriate. The literary convention is to describe fictional events consistently in the present tense. (See 27f.)

EXERCISE 13-2

Edit the following paragraph to eliminate distracting shifts in tense.

On Election Day in 2020, Mississippi residents approve a new state flag by an overwhelming majority. The old flag, which originated in 1894, includes the Confederate flag in its design. Black Mississippians speak out against the flag for years. They noted that the Confederate flag represents a time when the state fought to continue enslaving Black Americans. However, propositions to change the flag do not pass in previous years. The fight to update the flag gains strength during the police brutality and racial inequality protests of spring 2020. Led by young activists, Mississippi residents renew the push for a flag that represented all Mississippians. Lawmakers passed a bill removing the state flag in June, and voters make the new flag official in November. The new flag featured a magnolia, the state flower.