Exploring Writing - Gary Robert Muschla 2011

Verb Tenses
Part 2. Writing the Draft

The tense of a verb shows when something happens, or happened, in a sentence. The three most commonly used tenses are present, past, and future.

Following are examples of each tense:

✵ Verbs in the present tense show action that is happening now. Sandra walks to school each day.

✵ Verbs in the past tense show action that has happened. Sandra walked to school yesterday.

✵ Verbs in the future tense show action that will happen. Sandra will walk to school tomorrow.

Most writers use the past tense, because the events they are writing about have already happened. This is especially true for stories and most articles. In some arti- cles—for example, essays and editorials—an author may want to express a feeling that the subject of the article is currently happening. In such cases, the author uses present tense.

You must choose the correct tense for the stories and articles you write. A narrative, for example, based on a past event, requires the past tense. An article about the lunches currently served in the school cafeteria might be written in the present tense.

Once a tense is chosen, be careful not to shift tenses unnecessarily. Sometimes writers start in the past tense, then switch to the present, only to switch back to the past. This can be confusing to readers. Tense shifts can undermine expression and weaken ideas. For practice with verb tenses, do Worksheet 2.15 at the end of this section.