0
Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar

Help needed

I read on the Internet about the discovery of Saturn's rings over the last four hundred years. I found it interesting and confusing that the verb tense in the article varies between the past simple and the present simple. I would be very happy if you could tell me why. Here are some of the sentences from the article:

1600- galileo Galilei becomes the first to observe Saturn's rings with his 20-power telescope. He thought the rings were "handles" or large moons on either side of the planet. He said".....".
1612- Galileo was astounded then he found that the rings he first observed a couple of years earler had now disappeared. He wrote"....".
1615- Galileo now observes the rings as two half ellipses.
1655- Christtann Huygens proposes that Saturn was surrounded by a solid ring. ...Using a 50 power refractor that he designed himself, Huygens also discovers .......
1789- William Herschel suggests that Saturn i-s surrounded- by two solid rings.
1790- William Herschel -is- able to determine the rotation period ...
1850- ...... George bond condludes that a systemof narrow solid rings could not be stable and that Saturn's rings -had -to be fluid.
1852- Several observers notice that.... This observation made it difficult to defend the theory that the rings were solid.
1862-1862- The dark unlit side of Saturn's rings was observed by Fames Carpenter,.......
1876- Spectacular white spots are observed on saturn by Asaph Hall.
1907- 1908- Observations during the 1907-1908 ring plane crossing led to an estimate for the ring's thickness of no more than 15 km.
1923- B. Lyot was able to detect the polarization of light scattered by Saturn's rings.
1977- Voyger 1 and Voyger 2 are launched to encounter Saturn in 1980 and 1981.

There are also some tense inconsistencies in my opinion, maybe I am wrong.
* 1655- Christtann Huygens proposes that Saturn was surrounded by a solid ring. ...Using a 50 power refractor that he designed himself, Huygens also discovers .......
while in
1789- William Herschel suggests that Saturn is surrounded by two solid rings.
1850- ...... George bond concludes that a systemof narrow solid rings could not be stable and that Saturn's rings -had -to be fluid.

Huygens proposes that Saturn was surrounded by, but
William Herschel suggests that Saturn is surrounded by
George Bond concludes that a system of narrow solid rings could not be stable and had to be fluid.

1862-1862- The dark unlit side of Saturn's rings was observed by Fames Carpenter,.......
1876- Spectacular white spots are observed on saturn by Asaph Hall.

The dark unlit side of Saturn's rings was observed by but
White spots are observed by
* 1923- B. Lyot was able to detect the polarization of light scattered by Saturn's rings.
1790- William Herschel -is- able to determine the rotation period ...
B. Lyot was able to but
William Herschel is able to

If you would like to refer to the article, the site is http://www.ssd.rl.ac.uk/news/cassini/sat.html

This is a long post. Thank you for taking time to help me.
  

Top answer

The basic form is a common technique in constructing time lines or time charts: listing the date and state the event in simple present; and that is the form that most of these verbs in your excerpt take-- simple present active or passive. 'Using a 50 power refractor that he designed himself, Huygens also discovers' -- in this sentence, the verbs also take appropriate forms: the main verb 'discovers' is present simple, and 'designed' is in past simple for an action completed previously to Huygens' 'present'. However, the authors do, as you said, indeed become inconsistent, especially with the passive voice, where 'was' should have been written 'is'.

— Mister Micawber

  • The basic form is a common technique in constructing time lines or time charts: listing the date and state the event in simple present; and that is the form that most of these verbs in your excerpt take-- simple present active or passive.
  • 'Using a 50 power refractor that he designed himself, Huygens also discovers' -- in this sentence, the verbs also take appropriate forms: the main verb 'discovers' is present simple, and 'designed' is in past simple for an action completed previously to Huygens' 'present'.
  • However, the authors do, as you said, indeed become inconsistent, especially with the passive voice, where 'was' should have been written 'is'.
  • Probably not carefully proofread by a reputable grammarian from English Forums!
Free · every Monday

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.

1 Answers
0
The basic form is a common technique in constructing time lines or time charts: listing the date and state the event in simple present; and that is the form that most of these verbs in your excerpt take-- simple present active or passive.

'Using a 50 power refractor that he designed himself, Huygens also discovers' -- in this sentence, the verbs also take appropriate forms: the main
0

Related Questions