Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star" and Verb
Tense Consistency (Grammar #4)
CONFERENCE #1 (MANDATORY)
Class will not meet Thursday, Feb. 25, because of
conferences. BE SURE YOU HAVE RESERVED A TIME
with the “Scheduler” in the “Calendar” section of
Canvas! The 15-minute conferences will take place in YADM
108 unless I specifically tell you otherwise.
PLEASE BE ON TIME.
You must bring
1. your thesis statement for the research paper,
2. your working outline for the research paper (if you
have trouble with it, we can discuss that), and
You should bring
3. your graded sample paragraph and analytical essay
(with my comments), and
4. your source cards for the research paper.
“The Star”
By Arthur C. Clarke
St. Ignatius of Loyola,
founder of the Jesuits
Jes·u·it
1: a member of the
Roman Catholic Society
of Jesus founded by
St. Ignatius Loyola in
1534 and devoted to
missionary and
educational work
2: one given to
intrigue or equivocation
You should NEVER shift tenses in
your writing for things that happen at
the same time. Always be consistent
with your verb tense!
VERB TENSE
CONSISTENCY
Incorrect: Suddenly the great door
opened, and an uninvited guest comes
into the dining hall.
Incorrect: When we were comfortable,
we begin to do our homework.
Correct: Suddenly the great door
opens, and an uninvited guest comes
into the dining hall.
Correct: When we were comfortable,
we began to do our homework.
Correct: Suddenly the great door
opened, and an uninvited guest came
into the dining hall.
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Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star" and Verb
Tense Consistency (Grammar #4)
Writing about literature
Always use PRESENT TENSE when
writing about anything that happens
in a work of literature:
Correct: When Brently Mallard enters
the house, Louise’s heart fails.
Correct: In “The Star,” Arthur C.
Clarke’s narrator tells of finding a
civilization that was destroyed by a
supernova.
With quotations
If a QUOTATION in your sentence is a
complete sentence (capitalized and
separated from the rest of the sentence
with a comma or colon), a tense
change is OK:
Correct: Kate Chopin describes
Louise’s initial reaction dramatically:
“She wept at once, with sudden, wild
abandonment” (40).
PRACTICE
HINT: “Would” is the
past tense of “will.”
1. Steven knew that he would not get his
wish even though he (blows, blew) out
all his birthday candles.
2. I was very nervous when I (go, went)
on the ski lift for the first time.
3. When the baby sitter raises her voice,
the children (know, knew) it (is, was)
time to behave.
Writing about literature
However, when referring to something
that happened before the story begins
(or in real life), a PAST TENSE is correct:
Correct: Louise Mallard acknowledges
that her husband had always treated her
lovingly.
Incorrect: Chopin often writes stories
about women’s issues.
Correct: Chopin often wrote stories
about women’s issues.
With quotations
If you use a quotation that is not a
complete sentence, the tense must be
consistent. Put changes in brackets.
Incorrect: Josephine and Richards worry
about Louise, so “great care was taken to
break to her as gently as possible the news
of her husband’s death” (Chopin 40).
Correct: Josephine and Richards worry
about Louise, so “great care [is] taken to
break to her as gently as possible the news
of her husband’s death” (Chopin 40).
3. After we had seen all the exhibits at the
county fair, we (eat, ate) a snack and
then (go, went) home.
4. Brently was completely unaffected by
the disaster that supposedly (took, had
taken) his life.
5. Chopin (writes, wrote), “Now her bosom
([rises and falls], rose and fell)
tumultuously” (41).
6. Louise realizes “that she ([will], would)
weep again when she ([sees], saw) the
kind, tender hands folded in death” (41).
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Arthur C. Clarke's "The Star" and Verb
Tense Consistency (Grammar #4)
GRAMMAR #4:
Complete the
exercise ON
MyHCC/Canvas by
Thursday, Feb. 18.
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