Beware the shifting tense

Beware the shifting tense Beware the shifting tense Beware the shifting tense By Erin Many writers, students and professionals alike, struggle with the problem of tense shifting. Your writing will be easier to follow if youre sure to keep your tense consistent. A verbs tense lets the reader know when the action is taking place. Is it in the past (ran), present (run), or future (will run)? Since most of the problems occur in the past and present, well leave future tense out of the conversation for now. In academic writing, the general rule is to use present tense when citing published sources. For example, In her book The Artist’s way, author Julia Cameron writes that†¦. The signal phrase â€Å"author Julia Cameron writes† lets the reader know that information from an outside source is being used. Signal phrases should have present tense verbs. Most fiction and other narrative writing takes place in the past tense. A narrator is telling a story as it happened. Sometimes, though, a writer will accidentally slip into present tense without realizing it: I walked down to the edge of the water and dipped my toe in. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Jason grabs my arm and pushes me in the pool! In the second sentence, the author has slipped from past tense (walked/dipped) into present (grabs/pushes). Most of us do this in casual conversation all the time, so its important to be aware of it when were writing. Sometimes, a writer will choose to tell an entire story in the present tense for a sense of immediacy. In any case, its important to stick to the tense youve started with. Any necessary tense changes should have a clear purpose, and should be done smoothly. Otherwise, your reader will be unnecessarily distracted. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Writing Basics category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:How to Format a UK Business LetterHow to Play HQ Words: Cheats, Tips and TricksList of Prefixes and Suffixes and their Meanings

Writing with Computers Too Easy

Writing with Computers Too Easy Writing with Computers Too Easy Writing with Computers Too Easy By Hugh Ashton Last week we looked at antiques: quill pens, fountain pens, and typewriters. And so we come to word processors and computers. The word processor brings obvious advantages to writers. The ease with which you can write and revise, having typing and spelling mistakes corrected as you go, leads tocarelessness. I’m not simply referring to over-reliance on spell-checkers that’s been covered adequately in other articles* on this site but to sloppy style and composition. It’s all too easy, as I have found in my nearly 30 years of using word processing software (I started with WordStar 3.1 on CP/M80 for the archeologists among you), to write using these tools. The obvious advantage is that it is easy to go back and change your words and your mind about what you want to say. But one of the serious disadvantages is that you can write half a sentence, break off and come back to write the other half, which may not match the first half in style, content or overall meaning. Of course, this is technically possible with any other writing method but somehow it seemed harder to stop in the middle of a sentence with a pen or a typewriter. In any case, with a typewriter, you felt honor-bound to finish the page. Dropping one piece of writing mid-sentence, taking out the sheet of paper, re-setting margins, etc. and continuing the original on the re-inserted piece of paper usually didn’t work too well. This ability to stop writing a sentence, do something else, and continue from where you left off without always finishing the thought with which you started can make for very disjointed writing. The â€Å"something else† can be totally unconnected with writing (food breaks and the like) or can be something writing- and computer-related (e.g. answering an e-mail message or Twitter message in a completely different writing style to the one used in your main writing assignment) or can even be within the same document, going back and revising something that’s already been written. While writing this piece, I’ve been guilty of all three types of mid-sentence breaks. Can you see them? I hope not, because I do go back and re-read what I have written, matching style and making sure the logic flows neatly from one part to the next. However, it does seem painfully obvious to me reading some writing (including some of my own past work) that the flow of thought hasn’t been checked, and that the â€Å"first fine careless rapture† is the final published product. It may not be as exciting to polish a diamond as to dig it out of the ground, but unpolished uncut diamonds are not nearly as valuable as their processed counterparts. Take time to polish your gems before putting them on display to the world. More about word processors next week. *Spell Check isn’t foolproof Site, sight, and the spell check syndrome Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Freelance Writing category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:100 Mostly Small But Expressive Interjections34 Writing Tips That Will Make You a Better WriterWriting a Thank You Note