English 10
Prof. Rolens
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Consistency in Verb Tense
REVIEW: Verb tense refers to verbs being in present tense, past tense, or future tense.
We will now be focusing on consistency of verb tense, which means using the same verb tense
throughout a sentence or an entire paragraph.
GRAMMAR RULE: Do not shift from one verb tense to another.
EXAMPLES:
1. Inconsistent tense: I bought some milk when I go to the store.
2. Consistent tense: I bought some milk when I went to the store.
3. Consistent tense: I go to the store and I buy some milk.
Why is #1 wrong?
Bought is _________past___________ tense, and go is _________present_________ tense.
They are not the same!
Why is #2 correct?
Both verbs are written in ______past____________ tense.
Why is #3 correct?
Both verbs are written in _______present___________ tense.
EXCEPTION TO THE RULE: Sometimes you have to use a different verb tense in a sentence
if they convey the meaning you wish to convey. For example, “Last fall I took Biology, so now
I am taking Chemistry.”
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Consistency in Verb Tense
DIRECTIONS: All of the sentences below use inconsistent verb tense. Rewrite the sentence
correctly.
1. I went to school to be a psychologist. It takes eight years to get my degree.
2. I was speeding on the expressway. A cop approaches with its flashing lights on.
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Comment [1]: took C Rolens 12/2/16 4:07 PM
Comment [2]: aproached 3. Next Sunday, I have to cook dinner for the whole family. I buy all the food from Sam’s
Club.
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Comment [3]: will buy 4. I always do my homework on Sundays, because I went to basketball practice on
Saturdays.
Comment [4]: go 5. At the football game yesterday, the quarterback scored a touchdown and the crowd goes
wild.
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Comment [5]: went 6. We worked hard, practice daily, and eventually won the championship.
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More Practice!
DIRECTIONS: Read the following paragraph closely. Inconsistencies are more likely to occur
within paragraphs and longer pieces of writing. Therefore, it is important to revise your writing
for verb tense consistency. Read this paragraph and correct any verb inconsistencies. Circle the
verb and write the correction above it.
What type of water is better: bottled or tap? Just because a bottle’s label had a pristine mountain
spring does not mean that’s where the water comes from. Some brands are simply packaged tap
water. Distilled water, which is made by boiling water to remove impurities and then
condensing the resulting steam, is missing most of the trace amounts of minerals found in tap or
spring water. Then there are the bottles themselves: In 2006, Americans buy more than 8 billion
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Comment [6]: bought gallons of bottled water, and most of those plastic bottles ended up in landfills. On top of that,
the plastic using to manufacture most bottles comes from petroleum, contributing to our
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Comment [7]: used dependence on oil. For most people in this country, tap water was just as good as bottled, but
it’s not true everywhere. Check the safety of your water by referring to your water company’s
annual report.
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Comment [8]: is 4
Consistency in Verb Tense
DIRECTIONS: Read the following paragraph closely. Inconsistencies are more likely to occur within
paragraphs and longer pieces of writing. Therefore, it is important to revise your writing for verb tense
consistency. Read this paragraph and correct any verb inconsistencies. Circle the verb and write the correction
above it.
“You can’t go against your own people, your own blood!” Those words kept ringing in my
mind as I walk down the courtroom aisle to sit in a cold, empty chair next to the judge. I keep
telling myself, “Get yourself together. You don’t want to contradict yourself on the witness
stand. Your homie’s future lies in your hands.” I am convinced that I had to lie to protect my
own, the way I was always taught to do. As I walk through the courtroom, I kept my eyes
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Comment [9]: walked C Rolens 12/2/16 4:10 PM
Comment [10]: kept C Rolens 12/2/16 4:10 PM
Comment [11]: was C Rolens 12/2/16 4:10 PM
Comment [12]: walked focused straight ahead, afraid to make eye contact with anyone. It was so quiet that the only
things I can hear were the steps I took walking across the marble floor and my heart. (from The
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Comment [13]: could Freedom Writers Diary)
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Independent Practice
From The Freedom Writers Diary
When I sat down, I noticed that the courtroom was
1. A. NO CHANGE
B. has been
C. were
D. was
divided. On one side, there is my family and friends.
1
Most of them are from one of the most notorious gangs
in California. They had all came because they were
2. A. NO CHANGE
B. had all come
C. have all come
D. have all came
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worried about what the other side might do to me after
the verdict. Even though they were there to protect me,
3. A. NO CHANGE
B. do
C. have
D. was
I did not feel safe. I guess it was because they couldn’t
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protect me from the one thing I was actually afraid of, the
guilt I had inside. But all I had to do was look in the eyes
of my people for them to reassure me that I had
to take care of my own. I had to protect Joe no
4. A. NO CHANGE
B. to took care
C. to taken care
D. to takes care
5. A. NO CHANGE
B. known
C. knew
D. know
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matter what went down. We all knows that I wasn’t
5
gone rat on my friend.
6
6. A. NO CHANGE
B. wasn’t going to
C. weren’t gone
D. wasn’t done
6
Consistency in Verb Tense
DIRECTIONS: Read the following paragraph closely. Inconsistencies are more likely to occur
within paragraphs and longer pieces of writing. Therefore, it is important to revise your writing
for verb tense consistency. Read this paragraph and correct any verb inconsistencies. Circle the
verb and write the correction above it.
It was 1850. A poor-German born salesman named Levi Strauss came to San Francisco
trying to sell canvas cloth to tent makers. By chance, he met a miner who complained that
sturdy work pants are hard to find. Strauss had an idea, measures the man, and makes him a pair
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Comment [14]: were of canvas pants. The miner loved his new breeches, and Levi Strauss goes into business.
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Comment [15]: measured Although he ordered more canvas, what he gets is brown French cloth called serge de Nimes,
Comment [16]: made which Americans soon call denim. Strauss likes the cloth but had the next batch dyed blue. He
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Comment [18]: got was became successful selling work pants to such rugged men as cowboys and lumberjacks. In the
Comment [19]: called C Rolens 12/2/16 4:14 PM
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Comment [17]: went C Rolens 12/2/16 4:14 PM
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Comment [20]: liked 1870s, hearing about a tailor in Nevada adding copper rivets to a pair of the pants to make them
stronger, Strauss patents the idea. When he died in 1902, Strauss was famous in California, but
his company keeps growing. In the 1930s, when Levi’s jeans became popular in the East, both
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Comment [21]: patented C Rolens 12/2/16 4:15 PM
Comment [22]: kept men and women wear them. By 2000, people all over the world had purchased 2.5 billion pairs
of jeans.
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Comment [23]: wore Independent Practice 7
1. A. NO CHANGE B. seems C. seemed D. seeming A decade ago, many college students, especially
freshmen, seem to have trouble disciplining themselves.
1
Such lack of discipline shows itself in a number of ways.
2. A. NO CHANGE B. showed C. show D. will show 3. A. NO CHANGE B. is plagued C. are plagued D. plagued 4. A. NO CHANGE B. misses C. miss D. are missing 5. A. NO CHANGE B. calls C. calling D. called 6. A. NO CHANGE B. found C. finding D. finds 2
High school seniors who were neat and punctual in their
work are plaguing one year later by late assignments
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that were sloppily done. At times, assignments are missed
altogether. Twelfth-graders who rarely missed school
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found themselves cutting classes. Moreover, the
schedule that once is calling for bedtime before 11pm
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and a rising of 7am has become a thing of the past.
As bedtime is pushed further back – to 1am, 2am, and
sometimes later – students find it difficult to rise and
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shine for that morning freshmen composition class.
Sometimes students will roll out of bed and attend in
sweatpants; at other times, they merely rolled over and go
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back to sleep.
7. A. NO CHANGE B. rolls over C. rolling over D. roll over C Rolens 12/2/16 4:21 PM
Comment [24]: Disregard this page of practice; it will not appear on the Practice Final Exam 8
Consistency in Verb Tense
DIRECTIONS: Read the following paragraph closely. Inconsistencies are more likely to occur
within paragraphs and longer pieces of writing. Therefore, it is important to revise your writing
for verb tense consistency. Read this paragraph and correct any verb inconsistencies. Circle the
verb and write the correction above it.
From The Fellowship of the Ring
The mysterious figure sniffed the air as he pauses beside Frodo’s concealed body. As
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Comment [25]: paused Frodo longingly touches his Ring, he remembered Gandalf’s warning. Before he disappeared,
Gandalf explains the Ring’s dangerous powers. To the hobbits’ relief, the horse broke into a trot
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Comment [26]: touched C Rolens 12/2/16 4:18 PM
Comment [27]: explained while Frodo watched. After the horseman rode away, Frodo walked toward his companions. By
the time Frodo reached his friends, they stand up. The hobbits discussed the horseman who
frightens them. Sam’s father sees a stranger similar to the horseman before the hobbits left on
their journey. Frodo knew that the evil creature Gollum left his cave months ago in search of the
Ring. Frodo wondered whether Sauron sends the rider as a spy.
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Comment [28]: had stood C Rolens 12/2/16 4:18 PM
Comment [29]: frightened them C Rolens 12/2/16 4:18 PM
Comment [30]: had seen C Rolens 12/2/16 4:19 PM
Comment [31]: sent 9
Independent Practice 1. A. NO CHANGE B. wears C. wore D. has worn Traditional Japanese Sports
After two hours, the audience at this demonstration of
Japanese sports still wear expressions of interest on their
2. A. NO CHANGE B. obey C. obeyed D. obeying 3. A. NO CHANGE B. past C. have passed D. passing 4. A. NO CHANGE B. was C. were D. has been 5. A. NO CHANGE B. perform C. performing D. has perform 6. A. NO CHANGE B. it was difficult to see C. it be difficult to see D. it is difficult to have seen 1
faces. In traditional Japanese sports, each team obeys
2
strict rituals and rules. More than 1,000 years has passed
3
since Japanese men began to wrestle in the style known
as sumo. Statistics confirm that the average weight of a
sumo wrestler is 300 pounds. Fifteen feet is too far for
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the average person to throw or push a man weighing
several hundred pounds, yet sumo wrestlers routinely
performed this feat. Due to the fact that there are a lot of
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people in the audience, it is difficult to see the wrestlers.
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My binoculars helps me to appreciate the precise
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movements of the wrestlers. Sumo wrestling is a sport
7. A. NO CHANGE B. helped C. helping D. help admired for its strong history as well as the dedication
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of its athletes.
8. A. NO CHANGE B. for admiring C. admire D. having admired