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Xsi Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Past Tense?
What tense do I use when I talk about something from a book, TV show.
Say, I just watched an episode of <Insert TV Show here> and I want to write an essay about it, what tense should I use when I refer to the story? For example, "The plot is/was very illogical and the characters are/were horrible." Should I use was/were or is/are? This is very confusing because they both seem to work, but what would be the most common one to use? Thanks!
Say, I just watched an episode of <Insert TV Show here> and I want to write an essay about it, what tense should I use when I refer to the story? For example, "The plot is/was very illogical and the characters are/were horrible." Should I use was/were or is/are? This is very confusing because they both seem to work, but what would be the most common one to use? Thanks!
Top answer
You can use both. If you use the present, it will make your story more vivid. You can even use both tenses in the same story, as some kind of writing tool.
- You can use both.
- If you use the present, it will make your story more vivid.
- You can even use both tenses in the same story, as some kind of writing tool.
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4 Answers
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You can use both. If you use the present, it will make your story more vivid. You can even use both tenses in the same story, as some kind of writing tool.
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Thank you for your reply. Which tense do you think is preferred for an english essay? I would say past tense because most of the reading materials are very old (e.g. Macbeth, Hamlet, Lord of the Flies etc.).
-Xsi
-Xsi
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I think it's up to you, Xsi. You can write most of it in the past, I mean when you tell parts of the story, and use the present tense when you want to stress how vivid the scene is/was. Your opinion and your deductions can be in the present tense.
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