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RockzBarik Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

Why not use the past tense all the way through?

I'm trying to learn and improve my english and while I was watching a video I found this sentence.

"Elena ran towards the edge of the forest, screaming her sister's name. But she didn't turn back, maybe she didn't hear her."

I don't understand, why the entire sentence is in past tense but "turn" and "hear" are in present, if someone could explain it, I would really appreciate it.

  

Top answer

"Elena ran towards the edge of the forest, screaming her sister's name. " The bolded verbs are all past tense. In negative statements, the helping verb "do" is inflected and carries the tense.

— AlpheccaStars

  • "Elena ran towards the edge of the forest, screaming her sister's name.
  • " The bolded verbs are all past tense.
  • In negative statements, the helping verb "do" is inflected and carries the tense.
  • Here is the same sentence converted to present tense: "Elena runs towards the edge of the forest, screaming her sister's name.
  • "
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1 Answers
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"Elena ran towards the edge of the forest, screaming her sister's name. But she didn't turn back, maybe she didn't hear her."

The bolded verbs are all past tense.
In negative statements, the helping verb "do" is inflected and carries the tense.

Here is the same sentence converted to present tense:

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