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Iris_es Posted 17 years ago
Grammar

Past or Present Tense?

Hi,

Should I use past or present tense sentences to describe a fictional TV show or movie scene that is currently playing? Are there any rules that I have to take note?



Thanks
  

Top answer

It's usual to use the present tense to describe the plot and actions in fictional works such as books, films and TV shows. The past tense is not always wrong, though, and may be appropriate when the description is embedded in a context that sets the reading or viewing in the past. "

— Mr Wordy

  • It's usual to use the present tense to describe the plot and actions in fictional works such as books, films and TV shows.
  • The past tense is not always wrong, though, and may be appropriate when the description is embedded in a context that sets the reading or viewing in the past.
  • "
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2 Answers
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It's usual to use the present tense to describe the plot and actions in fictional works such as books, films and TV shows. The past tense is not always wrong, though, and may be appropriate when the description is embedded in a context that sets the reading or viewing in the past.

For example, if you were describing the plot of an episode of "Friends" in the abstract then you would writ
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Hi. Let us suppose that someone is writing a commentary on some Bible verses. Could we use tenses like this? I think we could. How would writing or running a commentary such as Bible verses be different from telling a plot of a story?

It (the Bible verses) shows that he ran to get the food and not hesitated to reach to get it. He must have been hungry.
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