Switching verb tense in a sentence.
I have developed what is either a bad habit, or is fine. I can't really determine which. It's technically switching verb tense in a sentence, but the articles I find about this topic don't really cover this type of example.
"Meg walked with single purpose toward the refrigerator, passing the cookies and cupcakes as she went."
vs.
"Meg walked with single purpose toward the refrigerator, and as she went, she passed the cookies and cupcakes."
My question is, in the first example, is the change in verb tense wrong? I always find it a bit cumbersome to keep in past tense in scenarios like this.
Top answer
" This is fine. There is no change of tense here. Maybe you are a little confused about the terminology.
- " This is fine.
- There is no change of tense here.
- Maybe you are a little confused about the terminology.
- "passing" is not preceded by an auxiliary verb, so it is not in itself a tense.
- It is a participle, one of the nonfinite forms of a verb.
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scotthall"Meg walked with single purpose toward the refrigerator, passing the cookies and cupcakes as she went."
This is fine. There is no change of tense here. Maybe you are a little confused about the terminology.
"passing" is not preceded by an auxiliary verb, so it is not in itself a tense. It is a participle, one of the nonfinite forms of a ve
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