Remember that if you're writing in the present tense, don't shift to the past tense (or vice versa) unless you have a good reason to do so. For instance, in the sentences below there is no reason to switch from the present tense. This is especially true when writing papers about literature: wherever possible, stay in the present tense.
Confusion | In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the narrator is one of the few truly successful characters in terms of moral development. However, she was also seriously flawed in some ways. |
Repair Work | In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, the narrator is one of the few truly successful characters in terms of moral development. However, she is also seriously flawed in some ways. |
| Confusion | She intended to play for the team during the upcoming season, but then she blows out her knee. [Shifting to the present tense this way would be common in casual speech; it will not do, however, in writing.] |
| Repair Work | She intended to play for the team during the upcoming season, but then she blew out her knee. |
Remember that if you're referring to you, or we, or I, or one, try to remain consistently within the same case.
One You should observe this carefully whenever you write.
The cases of nouns and pronouns are reviewed in a table.
| Confusion | In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, we find the narrator to be one of the few successful characters in terms of moral development. However, even the narrator, you soon realize, is seriously flawed. [We've shifted from the first-person plural "we" (quite common when writing about literature) to the second-person, singular "you."] |
| Repair Work | In Toni Morrison's The Bluest Eye, we find the narrator to be one of the few successful characters in terms of moral development. However, even the narrator, we soon realize, is seriously flawed. |
| Confusion | People enjoy themselves immensely at UConn women's basketball games. You don't have to be an expert in basketball to get caught up in the crowd's enthusiasm. [In these sentences, we've gone from a third-person, plural reference, "People," to second-person "you."] |
| Repair Work | [We could write, instead:] People enjoy themselves immensely at UConn women's basketball games. One doesn't have to be an expert in basketball to get caught up in the crowd's enthusiasm. [However, the "one," after a while, is going to feel overly formal, stuffy.] |
| Repair Work | [Most writers would probably prefer this:] People enjoy themselves immensely at UConn women's basketball games. It isn't necessary to be an expert in basketball to get caught up in the crowd's enthusiasm. |
Review the section on Gender in Pronouns for help with avoiding gender problems in pronoun reference.
A chart describing Sequence of Tenses should prove helpful in understanding the consistency of verb tenses, especially in the relationship between independent and dependent clauses.
