Grammar Help

Tip #16

Staying with the same tense

If I'm being completely honest this is a complete turn off. Not sure what I'm getting at? Hopefully this helps.

Now when we say stay with the same tense you may be like "Well of course I'm staying in the same tense. It's just about the current time!" Then closes this book and does something else.

No that's not what I'm saying. Here's an example of two things that may be written in the same chapter:

""Weren't you making breakfast?" John asked Sarah.

"Let me get ready first." Sarah says.""

See what we're getting at? When you say someone asked the other person, that means it had already happened therefore making it past tense. It's completely fine to write a story like that. But when you say later in the same chapter "Sarah says." That means it's in the present tense. There would be two correct ways to phrase this differently.

Either use "John asked", and "Sarah said" to describe how they were talking. Or use "John asks" and "Sarah says." It's very simple to fix and more people will want to keep reading.

If you don't do this then great! Pat yourself on the back. The aim of this is to help others. Hopefully you've picked up many other tips even if this specific one doesn't apply to you!