: Re: Would the Following be Correctly Formated? Cass’s body arched violently off of the bed, his mouth open and shrieking, arms flailing outward to protect from unseen invaders. The doctors,
No, it is not correct. Yes, all the verbs should be the same tense. That means not just 'is'/'are' but 'arches', 'glows', 'kick', 'rushes' etc.
Present tense:
Cass’s body arches violently off of the bed, his mouth open and shrieking, arms flailing outward to protect from unseen invaders. The doctors, still dressed in pajamas, are stunned, jaws loose. An orderly is the first to react, rushing to Michael and heaving the frightened boy off of his bed and away from the spasming teen across the room. Children are out of bed, crowding around the glass plates in their doors to watch.
Past Tense:
Cass’s body arched violently off of the bed, his mouth open and shrieking, arms flailing outward to protect from unseen invaders. The doctors, still dressed in pajamas, were stunned, jaws loose. An orderly was the first to react, rushing to Michael and heaving the frightened boy off of his bed and away from the spasming teen across the room. Children were out of bed, crowding around the glass plates in their doors to watch.
It's common in some forms of colloquial speech to mix tenses when storytelling, especially to emphasise certain actions, but this is definitely wrong when writing.
For example:
So he said 'blah,' and then I said, 'whatever,' then he punches me in the face!
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