Tense in a writing ????

Question

when you start a eassy in present tense, but you have to desribe facts or something that is past, do you change tense ??
also
when do you use simple past in a present tense eassy, i saw example like this
"The voice of young Queen Anne begins the story. Abigail, excited and trying to adapt to her new surroundings is surprised at seeing..."
how come exicited and suprised end with past tense, but other are present tense.
i really need help, please help me

Mr Wordy · Accepted Answer

In your example, "excited" and "surprised" are not past tense. They are past participles used adjectivally to describe a present condition (just like in "I am excited").

Anonymous · Answer

can you answer this question for me, please

when you start a eassy in present tense, but you have to desribe facts or something that is past, do you change tense ? Is it appropriate when my first sentence is present, then i use past to describe past event ?
like if i write a report about the movie ice age, when i talk about about the movie i use present tense, then when i want to talk about facts like how the mammoth extinct, do i change tense ?

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymous~~when~~ When you start a ~~eassy~~ essay in present tense, but you have to describe facts or something that is past, do you change tense ?

I don't see any alternative. How are you going to make it past if you simply continue in the present tense?

CJ

Dimsumexpress · Answer

Hi Anon,
If my guess if correct, you can understand this: ???? which is "past partciple".
In order to undersatnd "past partciple", you must clear all the basics on verb tense.
Here is my take:

I believe you have no problem with present and past tense. But based on your question, I have a hunch that you are not quite sure about "past partciple". Some past partciples are irregular and you need to review the lists of irregular verbs. There are several basic functions for past partciples.
Here are three basic ones:

1 - Formed present perfect and past perfect tense with [ have ] and its past form, [had] i.e. She has finsihed her home work. She found out she had lost her home work on the bus after she got home.

2 - "Past partciple" is used with [verb to be] to form passive context which is said to be transitive. i.e.The apartment was rented to a couple. It was also frershly painted.

3 - Be + "past partciple" also is used to form verbal adjective passively. i.e. She is excited to be able to go on the trip. I believe this is where you have questions. "Excited" is not a past tense, but it's a "past partciple". "Excite" is regular verb, so the past tense and "past partciple" are the same.

Go to a search engine and do a search on past participle or ????. There is a lot to cover and it's not possible for the forum to tell how much help you need. But you are always welcome to post further questions after you have reviewed the usage.

Anonymous · Answer

thank you so much for the advices.

I need some check in this paragraph

These ancient characters are able to survive in their environment due to their fur and they live as a group, also they migrate to other place, and adapt the new environment. The ancestor of mammoth were overproduced. Some mammoth has more fur than the other. These mammoths competed for food, and those with hairy fur were able to survive because their furs protect them from cold temperature and seem larger to the predators.

this is one of the paragraph from my writing project about the movie Ice Age I. I wrote it in present tense.

The red part i wrote about the characters in the movie, but then the blue part i need to prove some science facts about the mammoth. So do I use past tense form, were. Or do I use present tense form, if so, how ?
please teach me, thanks alot.

Dimsumexpress · Answer

AnonymousThese ancient characters [animals] are [were] able to survive in their [harsh] environment [because they had long] due to their fur to protect them from the cold and lived as a group, and their migratory ability to adapt to new environments. The ancestor of mammoth were overproduced. [not exactly sure what you tried to say ?] Some mammoth [ plurals or singular ?]has more fur than the other. These mammoths competed for food, and those with hairy fur were able to survive because their furs protect them from cold temperature and seem larger to the predators.

You are describing animals that had been extinct before the Bronze Age. So using present tense to narrate their environment and habitat seem inappropriate. The greens are my interpretation of you essay.
I can only point out the obvious errors.

Characters is not the correct word for mammoths in the discussed context.

Your blue part can actually be reduced and incoporated with the green corrections.

The ancestor of mammoth were overproduced. Not sure what you intended to say. Do you mean [had overprodcued] ?

Pay attention to signular and plural nouns.
Mammoths were the biggest animals during the Ice Age. I can't think of bigger preditors which could have threatened the mammoth's existence.

Anonymous · Answer

thanks for the advices.
some people told me that when writting about a movie or book or a formal eassy, we write it in present tense. So when writing about book or movie that talks about past, we still keep present tense right ?

i wrote my 1st paragraph in present tense, now i change to past tense. is that appropriate?

Mr Wordy · Answer

Anonymoussome people told me that when writting about a movie or book or a formal eassy, we write it in present tense.

Yes, that's common, but this advice is usually meant to apply to fictional works.

Anonymous
So when writing about book or movie that talks about past, we still keep present tense right ?
i wrote my 1st paragraph in present tense, now i change to past tense. is that appropriate?

I think it's disruptive to the flow to keep changing tenses. You can write about factual past events in the present tense (the "historical present"), but I am not a fan of that style. Therefore, I'd write the whole thing in the past tense. (I'd make an exception for phrases like "the film shows", "then we see" etc. that are referring to the actual process of showing and watching the film; thus "The film shows how these ancient animals were able to survive...").

Anonymous · Answer

Ohh I got some ideas.
So if I write like this :

The four steps of Natural Selection for mammoth are: the ancestor of mammoth had overproduced. Some mammoths had more fur than the other. These mammoths competed for food, and those with hairy fur were able to survive because their furs protect them from cold and seem larger to the predators.

So my tense is correct, and I can keep the rest in present tense right ?

Anonymous · Answer

The four steps of Natural Selection for mammoth are: the ancestor of mammoth had overproduced. Some mammoths had more fur than the other. These mammoths competed for food, and those with hairy fur were able to survive because their furs protect them from cold and seem larger to the predators.

any mistake ?

Tense in a writing ????

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions