4.1 Self-Assessment Tense Shifts

4.1 Self-Assessment: Tense Shift

Writing a paragraph in a consistent verb tense is not easy.

Plowing by farmers kills much of the tall prairie grass that covers the plains. With this natural protection gone, the soil was at further risk of being blown away.

1. The first sentence begins in the present tense.

Plowing by farmers kills much of the tall prairie grass that covers the plains.

1. In the second sentence, the verb was causes confusion because it is past tense.
   
   Unless there has been a shift in time, verbs should remain in the present tense, as in the following rewritten sentence.

With this natural protection gone, the soil is at further risk of being blown away.

Do not confuse your reader with arbitrary changes.

At the stroke of midnight, she watched in horror as her friend transforms before her eyes.

At the stroke of midnight, she watched in horror as her friend transformed before her eyes.

The gravel crunched and spattered beneath the wheels of the Ford Focus as I swung into my new yard. I could not prevent my imagination from churning out a picture of my old home and the friends I had left behind. My eyes surveyed the place I will soon call home. Hesitating a moment, I open the car door.

A dragonfly resting on a branch overhanging a small stream may seem beautiful and harmless. But, if the dragonfly were three feet long, like the Meganeura or giant dragonflies were in the past, they would become suddenly terrifying. This is because dragonflies are some of the most brutal killers in the insect world. Dragonflies can track their prey to intercept it and kill it. They have incredible superpower vision. They also have specialized wings that even allow them to fly upside down. This is why they capture 95% of their prey. By comparison, sharks only catch half of their prey and lions less than a quarter. Dragonfly jaws open as wide as their entire head and they crush their prey to a pulp. Finally, they never stop eating!