Basic Rules in Achieving Verb-Tense Consistency
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Transcript of Basic Rules in Achieving Verb-Tense Consistency
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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!