Consistency of Tense and Subject / Verb Agreement – Mr Cates’ home help
http://www.towson.edu/ows/tenseconsistency.htm
Consistency of Tense and Subject / Verb Agreement – Mr Cates’ home help
Consistency of tense.
In the following exercise, you will be presented with sentences, some of which contain
inconsistency of tense. You need to tick the sentences that contain tense inconsistencies.
1 a) Jim wanted to visit his grandma but cannot find the money for a train ticket. 
b) We were able to travel to Athens but could not find a hotel. 
c) They left the house around eight, walked to town and end up in their favourite pub. 
d) If I had seen the car earlier, I would have been able to avoid the accident. 
2 a) I couldn't come out with you because I don't have enough money. 
b) You will never be a professional athlete because you didn't eat the right diet. 
c) She wants to visit India but she had not got enough money. 
d) It is awful here; we could not see a thing. 
3 a) I get on well with all my friends as they were all really nice people. 
b) Sam cooked a fantastic meal and then had to do all the washing up. 
c) I got this souvenir when I was on holiday in India. 
d) The building towers above the others and dominated the skyline. 
4 a) The test match was abandoned because it is raining so hard. 
b) The football match will be abandoned as it was raining so hard. 
c) She arrived on Sunday and leaves again next Monday. 
d) The football match will be abandoned as it is raining so hard. 
5 a) After they had seen the thief, Tim and Paul set off for the police station. 
b) The train leaves at seven o'clock and did not arrive until very late at night. 
c) I will never work for you even if you pay me thousands of pounds an hour. 
d) We are walking along the river bank when the accident happened. 

In this next section, you will need to indicate which sentence is correct.
6 a) I want to travel to India with my friends, but I couldn't find enough money. 
b) I wanted to travel to India with my friends, but I will not be able to find enough money.
c) I wanted to travel to India with my friends, but I couldn't find enough money. 
7 a) France is a lovely country. It has some beautiful beaches. 
b) France is a lovely country. It had some beautiful beaches. 
c) France was a lovely country. It has some beautiful beaches. 
8 a) She hated playing the piano, but can sing beautifully. 
b) She hates playing the piano, but could sing beautifully. 
c) She hates playing the piano, but can sing beautifully. 
9 a) We left home first thing in the morning and arrive late at night. 
b) We left home first thing in the morning and arrived late at night. 
c) We leave home first thing in the morning and arrived late at night. 
10 a) We sneaked into the kitchen and raid the fridge. 
b) We sneak into the kitchen and raided the fridge. 
c) We sneaked into the kitchen and raided the fridge. 

This exercise can be completed on line at:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/arts/exercises/grammar/grammar_tutorial/page_75.htm#tensee
Consistency of Tense and Subject / Verb Agreement – Mr Cates’ home help
Subject verb agreements (was instead of were/ is instead of are)
Student example:
Online streaming compared to the cinema offers numerous blockbuster
films. Examples of this is Skyfall, Gravity, Fast and Furious.
Rules on subject-verb agreement can be found on the
GrammarBook.com website at:
http://www.grammarbook.com/grammar/subjectVerbAgree.asp
and at the Townson University Website:
http://www.towson.edu/ows/moduleSVAGR.htm
ACTIVITY TO ADDRESS THIS TYPE OF ERROR
In this activity students are given a short paragraph in which some cases of the
subject/verb agreement are wrong.
Students work in pairs to decide which are wrong and feedback.
The texts are taken at random from novels and are quite challenging. It is
useful to use texts with complex sentences because that is often when
problems occur in students' work. Repeated regularly, this activity can help
students to recognise these mistakes in their own work.
Example The Magic Mountain, Thomas Mann
It was charming in the restaurant, elegantly appointed and well lighted. The
room lay to the right of the hall, opposite the salons, and were, Joachim
explained; used chiefly by new arrivals, and by guests eating out of the usual
meal hours or entertaining company. But it also served for birthday feasts,
farewell parties, even to celebrate a favourable report after a general
examination. There was lively times here in the restaurant on occasion,
Joachim said, and champagne flowed freely. Now, no one was here but a
solitary lady of some thirty years, reading a book and humming; she kept
tapping the tablecloth lightly with the middle finger of her left hand.
Consistency of Tense and Subject / Verb Agreement – Mr Cates’ home help
Savage Coast, Muriel Rukeyser
The English couple, with their easy walk, was crossing the little square beside
the station. The woman with them were shorter than they, who drooped
over her slightly. Her dark hair was clawed with grey and fitted to her head,
her eyes were deep in shadow. As she spoke, her mouth, russet-coloured and
startling, moved distinct and separate, drawing attention to itself so that it
took a small additional effort to listen to her.
The Night Manager, John le Carré
And this mildness of manner within a fighter's frame gave him a troubling
intensity. You would never during your stay in the hotel confuse him with
anyone else: not with Herr Strippli, the creamy haired front-of-house
manager, not with one of Herr Meister's superior young Germans who strode
through the place like gods on their way to stardom somewhere else. As a
hotelier, Jonathan was complete. You did not wonder who his parents was or
whether he listened to music or kept a wife and children or a dog. His gaze as
he watched the door were steady as a marksman’s. He wore a carnation. At
night he always did.
Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser
When Hurstwood came in upon Carrie she was still with Drouet. His feelings
for her was most exuberant, he was almost swept away by the strength and
feeling she exhibited. His desire was to pour forth his praise with the
unbounded feelings of a lover, but here was Drouet, whose affection was
also rapidly reviving. The latter were more fascinated, if anything, than
Hurstwood. At least in the nature of things, it took a more ruddy form.