: Re: Reasons for confusion over tenses in a story When writing stories in past tense (which is majority of the time) whether it be an essay for class or an unassembled essay for home and in my

I would accept the sentence you have written, usually. It depends on the context.

Tenses in English are actually incredibly complex. (I have recently written a simple guide for distinguishing between the past/present/future simple/progressive/perfect/progressive perfect, which, to be perfectly honest, doesn't cover all tenses.)

Usually, I advise students to stick to one tense when writing a story -- past or present tense. However, things are not that simple. For example, in past tense narratives, present tense sequences can be very effective for creating tension and suspense. As well, sometimes future statements are appropriate.

If you are considering non-fiction, the past tense is conventional. However, talking to my wife, who is a professor of Greek history, she often uses the present tense to talk about past events.

I guess that you are not a native English speaker and you are trying to work out how to please an examiner/teacher/etc. All I can suggest is that you look for examples of the types of constructions you use in standard English texts (e.g. Victorian novels which are availble online for free) to show the person who thinks this construction is wrong.

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: Re: Reasons for confusion over tenses in a story When writing stories in past tense (which is majority of the time) whether it be an essay for class or an unassembled essay for home and in my

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