Tense aspects

Question

1. Why the present continuous tense is used here (..is attempting)? Is it because of ..traversing.. that indicates that it should be in that form?

hi,

i have a questions here of why certain tenses are used. here,

Unfortunately, the joints in one of the containers had given way and a considerable amount of crude oil spilled into the sea. Oil slicks were spotted to have already reached the shore.

2. Why does .... Oil slicks were spotted to have already ..take the past perfect tense while he containers had given way is used?

Kushiro has been the first place to be hit by the oil slicks. The situation here is serious. A comparison with the Torrey Canyon disaster showed that fortunately one-eighth as much crude oil has been spilled.

3. the first sentence is in the present perfect tense but why the verb ..showed... is in the past?

Hundreds of sea birds are trapped by this black tide, the once shimmering sands well-loved by so many holiday-makers are the picture of desolation. The oyster industry has been badly affected.

4. Why the present perfect is used in the last sentence... has been badly affected...? Shouldn't it be in the simple past tense? And shouldn't Hundreds of sea birds are trapped by this black tide....in the present perfect tense because it happened first before the oyster industry was affected by the oil spill.

Yamashita, declared the situation a disaster and announced many men are needed to help in the clean up. He is appealing for volunteers to report to police station immediately.

5. Why 'declared' is in the past tense whereas are needed is a present form of the verb?

6. Later, the continuous tense is used in the last sentence...is appealing.. May i know why it is used instead of ..has appealed..?

I hope this is not too much for you. I need this to improve my writing because it is important for my new job.

Thanks.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

1. Why the present continuous tense is used here (..is attempting)? Is it because of ..traversing.. that indicates that it should be in that form? I don't find either "attempting" or "traversing." You must have booted them both.
Simple present tense is very awkward in describing actions, except for "historical present" and "habitual behavior."
I drink the water. (I am drinking the water.)

Unfortunately, the joints in one of the containers had given way and a considerable amount of crude oil spilled into the sea. Oil slicks were spotted to have already reached the shore.

2. Why does .. Oil slicks were spotted to have already ..take the past perfect tense while he containers had given way is used? I don't think "spotted to have already reached" is grammatical. It's a difficult thing to learn, but some verbs take the infinitive, some take the gerund, and some take either one. We say, "She was spotted leaving the building," not "She was spotted to leave the building." You can say, "She was seen to leave the building." "Stuff was found to have reached the shore."
"Were spotted/seen/found" is simple past tense, passive mood.
"Containers had given" is past perfect tense, active mood.
"To have reached" has no tense. It's a perfect infinitive.
The past perfect is usually used to indicate that X happened before Z.
This is a news item. "The stuff was spotted" in the simple past. But "the joints had given way" happened before that.

Kushiro has been the first place to be hit by the oil slicks. The situation here is serious. A comparison with the Torrey Canyon disaster showed that fortunately one-eighth as much crude oil has been spilled.

3. the first sentence is in the present perfect tense but why the verb ..showed... is in the past? The present perfect describes something which happened in the recent past. The author could say "was the first," but he wants to keep his readers engaged, giving the impression that the story is still alive. "Has been spilled" is present perfect. Your question is appropriate. Why didn't he say "A comparison has shown?" I suppose the tense gets a little cumbersome if you use it three times in a row in rapid succession. However, there's nothing ungrammatical about mixing simple past and past perfect in describing actions which happened in the same time period.

Hundreds of sea birds are trapped by this black tide, the once shimmering sands well-loved by so many holiday-makers are the picture of desolation. The oyster industry has been badly affected.

4. Why the present perfect is used in the last sentence... has been badly affected...? Shouldn't it be in the simple past tense? And shouldn't Hundreds of sea birds are trapped by this black tide..in the present perfect tense because it happened first before the oyster industry was affected by the oil spill. All three verbs are used in the passive mode. The first two (present) use the being verb to describe a state, or condition, not an action. "Trapped" is used as an adjective, in my opinion. So there's no problem in using the present.
"Affected," however, is an action verb, and works a little better in the perfect.
In the spirit of keeping the story alive, the author uses the present where he can, and the perfect where is must.
I'll take your word that the birds "were" trapped before the oyster industry was affected, BUT, the present tense doesn't say when the birds were trapped. It says "they are trapped."
The birds were trapped. "Trapped" is a passive verb.
The birds are trapped. "Trapped" is an adjective complement.
(Of course this can be argued.)

Yamashita, declared the situation a disaster and announced many men are needed to help in the clean up. He is appealing for volunteers to report to police station immediately.

5. Why 'declared' is in the past tense whereas are needed is a present form of the verb? This is a grey area, as are most of your example questions. If you were to do this in a direct speech to indirect speech transformation, you'd probably catch 'ell for it. (It's never incorrect to backshift.) But we can argue that the condition of "needing the men" is still true, so present tense may be optionally used.
All of your examples are full of passive mood, which is fraught with difficulty.

6. Later, the continuous tense is used in the last sentence...is appealing.. May i know why it is used instead of ..has appealed..? No!
(just kidding.)
His "declaration" was an event. It's past.
His "appealing process" is ongoing in the present.
You can use "to appeal" either way. You can make an appeal (noun), or you can be in need of something. "To be in need" is not an event, it's a condition, or a state. He continues to be in the state of appealing.

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