Mixing tenses when using prepositional phrases

Question

I used the following sentence in a document I was writing: "I collaborated with the performance and development teams to gather the pertinent information, validate the results and document the tool usage." I received a response from a reviewer that I was incorrectly mixing tenses. I connected to a website tool that detects grammatical errors and entered the sentence. The tool detected no grammatical errors.

College is many years behind me so I am far from being an expert in grammar. Is there someone who can verify that the sentence is grammatically correct and point me to the rule of grammar that covers the situation.

Thanks

Art

AlpheccaStars · Accepted Answer

AnonymousI used the following sentence in a document I was writing: "I collaborated with the performance and development teams to gather the pertinent information, validate the results and document the tool usage." I received a response from a reviewer that I was incorrectly mixing tenses. I connected to a website tool that detects grammatical errors and entered the sentence. The tool detected no grammatical errors.

College is many years behind me so I am far from being an expert in grammar. Is there someone who can verify that the sentence is grammatically correct and point me to the rule of grammar that covers the situation.

Hi Art,
Your sentence is perfectly OK. There is only one finite verb in the entire sentence, so there is no "mixing" of tenses. The other verbs are non-finite; they are infinitives, not fully-inflected verbs.

I collaborated (the main verb is in past tense) with the performance and development teams to gather (to gather is an infinitive, the head of an infinitive phrase used as an adverb of purpose) the pertinent information, (to) validate (a second infinitive - the infinitive marker "to" is omitted because of the conjunction "and" that follows the parallel structure of multiple infinitives) the results and (to) document the tool usage."

I know this is a bunch of grammatical description; I hope you can understand it.

Best Regards,
A-

s

Anonymous · Answer

A-

s,

Thank you for your response breaking down the parts. That helps a lot. If I may impose upon you once more, the following is another sentence, said to be mixing tenses, from the document:"I built a new query to pull a list of existing customers to use as a prospecting list for cross selling collaboration solutions." Based on your earlier response, it appears I have two infinitive phrases (starting with "to"). Please clarify the situation with the final phrase (starting with "for"). My guess is I have a prepositional phrase used as a adverb of purpose. Am I correct or totally off base?

Take care and have a great evening!

Art

Anonymous · Answer

A-

s,

Thank you for your response breaking down the parts. That helps a lot. If I may impose upon you once more, the following is another sentence, said to be mixing tenses, from the document:"I built a new query to pull a list of existing customers to use as a prospecting list for cross selling collaboration solutions." Based on your earlier response, it appears I have two infinitive phrases (starting with "to"). Please clarify the situation with the final phrase (starting with "for"). Is this a prepositional phrase also used as a adverb of purpose. I have been attempting to research on the interent and I think I have the -ING participle verb form. Am I correct or totally off base?

Take care and have a great day!

Art

Mixing tenses when using prepositional phrases

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