Mixing Tenses

[miyako73]

I got a comment before that I should not mix tenses in a sentence or paragraph. I used to write habitual and general statements in present tense. Now I am confused, and my writing has been affected.

While reading The Help by Kathryn Stockett, I found out that she was not consistent with her tenses.

"Two days later, I sit in my parent’s kitchen, waiting for dusk to fall. I give in and light another cigarette even though last night the surgeon general came on the television set and shook his finger at everybody, trying to convince us that smoking will kill us. But Mother once told me tongue kissing would turn me blind and I’m starting to think it’s all just a big plot between the surgeon general and Mother to make sure no one ever has any fun."



Any comment?

[jlcox]

Although I don't personally like the style, she's trying to give the reader a sense of the present ("I SIT in my parent's kitchen," "I LIGHT a cigarette") in order to give the reader the sense that the story is happening and not being told. The past tense references are used for the narrator's recollections.

Make sense?

[miyako73]

"I understood when she told me life is not perfect."

"I knew the bar is always open on Sundays."

Are these correct?

[jlcox]

Yes (with the exception of the 's' on Sunday, I think-I may be wrong about that). In the first one, she is quoting someone who has told her, "life is not perfect." In the second one, she is thinking retrospectively about something she thought about something in the present.

Think about regular conversion: If I tell someone that a store will be open when I get there, I may say "I knew the store is open," when I get there.

However, the confusion that can be caused is exactly why I don't like the style. I would much prefer, "I knew the bar was open on Sundays," or in the case of my example, "I knew the store would be open."

[hillwalker]

"I understood when she told me life is not perfect."

"I knew the bar is always open on Sundays."

Are these correct?

Both are correct - in the first she understood (in the past) a fact that is still correct today in the present - in the second she knew (in the past) again something that still applies today. Sundays is also correct - meaning the bar is open each Sunday.

The problem with mixing tenses only applies when a story suddenly leaps from present tense to past for no logical reason. As if the writer forgot which tense he/she was writing in.

H

[Mutatis-Mutandis]

^ That.