Improving your use of tenses in writing (or speaking) involves a conscious effort to understand, apply, and consistently maintain the correct tense throughout your narrative. Here's a breakdown of how to achieve that:
1. Understand the Basic Tenses:
First, ensure you have a firm grasp of the fundamental tenses:
- Past: Describes actions that have already happened (e.g., I walked).
- Present: Describes actions happening now or general truths (e.g., I walk).
- Future: Describes actions that will happen (e.g., I will walk).
Each of these has simple, continuous, perfect, and perfect continuous forms. For example, in the past tense you have:
| Tense | Example | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Past | I walked | Completed action in the past. |
| Past Continuous | I was walking | Action in progress at a specific time in the past. |
| Past Perfect | I had walked | Action completed before another action in the past. |
| Past Perfect Cont. | I had been walking | Action in progress for a period of time before another action in the past. |
2. Know Your Genre:
Different genres often favor certain tenses. For instance:
- Fantasy and Historical Fiction: Often use the past tense.
- Contemporary Fiction: Can use past or present tense.
- Scientific Writing: Usually uses the present tense for general truths and the past tense for specific research findings.
Understanding genre conventions will help you make appropriate tense choices.
3. Choose a Tense that Serves Your Narrative:
The tense you choose dramatically impacts the reader's experience.
- Past Tense: Provides a sense of distance and reflection. It's a classic choice for storytelling.
- Present Tense: Creates immediacy and brings the reader into the action. It can feel more suspenseful.
Experiment to see which tense best suits your story and its intended effect.
4. Maintain Tense Consistency:
One of the most common errors is switching tenses mid-sentence or mid-paragraph without a clear reason. Once you've established a primary tense, stick with it unless you are deliberately shifting to a different time frame.
- Incorrect: I walked to the store, and now I buy milk. (Shifts from past to present)
- Correct: I walked to the store, and I bought milk. (Consistent past tense)
5. Play with Time Shifts (Deliberately):
While consistency is key, you can strategically use tense shifts to:
- Flashbacks: Shift to the past tense to describe past events.
- Future Projections: Use the future tense to describe what will happen.
- Hypothetical Situations: Employ conditional tenses (would, could, might).
Make sure these shifts are clear and purposeful, using signal words like "before," "later," "in the future," or "years ago" to guide the reader.
6. Practice and Edit Carefully:
- Write Regularly: The more you write, the more natural your tense usage will become.
- Read Widely: Pay attention to how published authors use tenses.
- Edit Meticulously: During the editing process, specifically look for tense inconsistencies. Read your work aloud; this can help you catch errors. Consider using grammar checking tools (but don't rely on them exclusively, as they can sometimes be inaccurate).
- Seek Feedback: Ask others to read your work and provide feedback on your tense usage.
Example:
Instead of:
- "She walks down the street, and suddenly, she saw a flash of light. She is scared."
Try:
- "She walked down the street, and suddenly, she saw a flash of light. She was scared." (Consistent past tense)
Or, if you want present tense immediacy:
- "She walks down the street, and suddenly, she sees a flash of light. She is scared." (Consistent present tense)
By understanding the nuances of each tense, choosing a tense that suits your narrative, maintaining consistency, and practicing regularly, you can significantly improve your use of tenses and create more compelling and effective writing.
