Tense Consistency

What is the Meaning of Tense Consistency?

To start off the discussion, here's the full definition of tense consistency.

Tense consistency means that the timing of each expression in writing stays the same. This can make the timing of events clearer to a reader and help to maintain a constant tone.

Refresher: Verb Tenses

If you learned English as a second language, you know that English verb tenses get complicated. So, before diving further into tense consistency, here's a reminder of the main verb tenses in English.

Past, present, and future are the most important tense distinctions. But of course, verb tenses get more complicated than that. These are some examples of the more complex verb tenses in English grammar.

The distinctions between simple, progressive, perfect, and perfect progressive play a role in tense consistency, but the most important distinctions to remember are those between past, present, and future. With these in mind, you're ready to jump into tense consistency!

What is the Importance of Tense Consistency?

So, you're clear on the differences between verb tenses, but what difference does verb tense consistency make in writing?

Fig. 1 - Past, present, and future: the timeline of tense.

• Tense consistency sets the timeline of your writing.Maintaining a clear timeline makes your writing more understandable. An unclear timeline can be confusing and hard for a reader to follow. You'll see some examples of this later.
• Tense consistency makes your writing flow more logically.Writing with tense consistency involves organizing sentences and paragraphs in a way that keeps the timeline clear. This means grouping sentences together based on their verb tenses. The result is logically-organized and focused writing.
• Tense consistency adds clarity to your writing.On top of organizing your sentences and paragraphs, writing with tense consistency involves tweaking your wording to maintain the timeline. This makes the purpose of your writing clearer and easier to follow.

The effect that verb tense has on the timing, logic, and clarity of your writing highlights the importance of learning to write with tense consistency!

Tense Consistency Examples

The best way to demonstrate the importance of tense consistency is to show tense in-consistency. These examples go over inconsistencies, including the effect they have on a sentence and the best ways to fix them.

Fig. 2 - "She grabbed the stapler and threw it at the cockroach on the wall" has consistent verb tense.

That was a pretty simple and easy fix. The inconsistency was very noticeable because it took place in the same clause. This example takes it up a notch by bringing the inconsistency to the sentence level.

The last two examples involve a tense inconsistency between the past and present tenses. This example throws the future tense into the mix.

Tense Consistency Rules

Now you've seen some examples of the difference tense consistency can make, but what are the real rules here? How can you improve the tense consistency in your own writing?

Does Tense Always Have To Be Consistent?

Is tense consistency always the answer? The short answer is no. In some circumstances, tense inconsistency makes more sense than tense consistency. Tense consistency is not necessary in these situations:

• When a change in verb tense maintains the timeline of events better than a consistent tense.
• When quoting outside materials.

Here's a closer look at these situations. In this example, a difference in verb tense makes the sentence clearer than tense consistency.

Verb tense inconsistency is also okay in quotes. When directly quoting an outside source, it's best to avoid changing anything inside the quotation marks, even if it keeps the tense consistent with your writing. It's also best to avoid changing the tense of your writing to match the quote, because this can cause more tense inconsistency in your own writing. Take a look at this example:

Even though tense consistency improves writing as a general rule, it doesn't apply in every situation. As you can see in the examples above, sometimes an inconsistency in verb tense makes for a clearer sentence.

Verb Tense Consistency in Paragraphs

At the paragraph level, verb tense consistency is pretty simple. The key is to choose a tense and stick with it. Maintaining the tense you chose initially through the paragraph will make the paragraph—and the entire work—more readable.

Here are some general rules for verb tense consistency in essay paragraphs.

• Argumentation in an essay is usually in the present tense. This goes for the persuasive element in rhetorical analysis, argumentation, synthesis, and other essay styles. The evidence at hand suggests that a later start to the school day greatly benefits both students and teachers.
• The results of a study are usually described in the past tense.This is generally because any study being reported has already been completed. Using the past tense makes the most sense for the timeline.Gleason's 1958 study made use of the Wug Test, which revealed interesting patterns in child language development.

Use your best judgment when writing paragraphs. Try to establish a tense and maintain it through the paragraph, but don't be afraid to create a tense inconsistency if it makes for a clearer paragraph!

Improving Tense Consistency

Checking your verb tense consistency as you write is a great way to improve your writing. To do this, follow these basic steps after you write a paragraph:

1. Look back at your paragraph and underline all of the verbs.
2. Make a note of the tense of each verb.
3. If there are lots of tense changes in the paragraph, change some of them to match the others, or separate the different tenses into different clauses, sentences, or paragraphs.

Follow these steps in your writing, and your paragraphs will be more consistent and readable!