8/17/2019 Basic Rules in Achieving Verb-Tense Consistency

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VERB TENSE CONSISTENCYQC Team

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Controlling Shifts in Verb Tense

Do not shift from one tense to another

if the time frame for each action or state

is the same.

Examples:

“Calvin Cheng” felt that the public’s fears about the MDA’s new licensing scheme

are exaggerated.

“Calvin Cheng” felt that the public’s fears about the MDA’s new licensing scheme

were exaggerated.

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Controlling Shifts in Verb Tense

Do shift tense to indicate a change* in time

frame from one action or state to another. 

Examples:

The netizens were surprised that the Government was now creating contingency

plans in addressing health concerns related to the haze.

The netizens were surprised that the Government is now creating contingency plans

in addressing health concerns related to the haze.

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*change in time frame is indicated by time indicators or adverbs of time, e.g. now, today, etc.

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Controlling Shifts in Verb Tense

Establish a primary tense for the main

discourse, and use occasional shifts to other

tenses to indicate changes in time frame. 

Specific rules:

•  Rely on past tense to narrate past events.

•

  Use present tense to state facts or to refer to perpetual or habitualactions.

• Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including the use

of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and other adverbs of time,

and a wide range of contextual cues.

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Don’t switch back and forth without valid reason.

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 -“Ike” recommended NAB and stated that it has had a stable migrant banking system.

[The primary tense is past; hence, we use ‘had’ to achieve verb tense consistency for

clarity .]

-“parleycross” remarked that Westpac is was the “best” among the major banks. 

A netizen commendeds Citi  for being “awesome” because his/her Ready Credit had

been reactivated earlier than s/he expected.

[ A narration, especially of insights from a single netizen, requires the use of past tense

as its primary tense.]

Controlling Shifts in Verb Tense

Examples:

“consecutor” and “moozmoow” emphasized that they

have  had never encountered

any problem with SingPost .

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Thank you!