Present Tense in literary writing

gxnn

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One of the problems of learning English for us Chinese is that we do not have the conception of what tense is, and after a few years of hard work, I still find myself confused about the present tense used in the story writing or other works.

It is believed that tense is closely linked to the time, so it is usual and easily understood we use past tense to tell a story. I also notice that it is quite hard to determine when to use the proper tense, sometimes there are also parts of the stories using present tense to describe an event which is supposed to have taken place earlier, which is confusing us. Our teacher told us that it is OK to use present tense to describe a historic event as if it happens right now before your eyes. But I also see there are places in the same writing where various (mainly past and present tenses mixed) to illustrate an event.

Would anybody share with us how to properly use the tenses in writing (like in stories, essays and papers).
 
One of the problems of learning English for us Chinese is that we do not have the conception of what tense is, and after a few years of hard work, I still find myself confused about the present tense used in the story writing or other works.

It is believed that tense is closely linked to the time, so it is usual and easily understood we use past tense to tell a story. I also notice that it is quite hard to determine when to use the proper tense, sometimes there are also parts of the stories using present tense to describe an event which is supposed to have taken place earlier, which is confusing us. Our teacher told us that it is OK to use present tense to describe a historic event as if it happens right now before your eyes. But I also see there are places in the same writing where various (mainly past and present tenses mixed) to illustrate an event.

Would anybody share with us how to properly use the tenses in writing (like in stories, essays and papers).
This would be better asked in the editors forum or authors' hangout forum.
 
This would be better asked in the editors forum or authors' hangout forum.
Yes, in AH.

I do not recall precise rules for selecting tenses (and I am no expert on pluperfect past and the like) but some guidelines that occur to me include:

* Past tense describes what you have witnessed, what has occurred. "I saw the light," or, "The fire burned intensely." Present tense describes what is occurring right now, or what continues to occur: "I see the flashing light," or, "The river marks the state border."

* I feel a sense of dread with first-person present-tense narratives because the narrator often comes to a bad end: "I see the white puff of smoke from the rifle; I feel the bullet go deep in my chest." A past-tense narrative implies the narrator's survival; present tense gives no such assurance.

* Present tense is appropriate in speech: "I am really, really angry at you!" or, "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas." Tense may shift radically in speech; the speaker may relate what has happened, what is now happening, and what will happen, all within one paragraph.

* Present tense is appropriate for technical writing -- I call its POV "fourth person" because no person is referenced by pronoun. All 'players' in the text are reduced to "the user," "the object," etc and all time is immediate: "First, configure data point X with protocol Z1," or, "The hip bone is connected to the thigh bone." Use future tense to describe consequences: "Thyristor Q5 will explode if power is applied incorrectly."

Those are top-of-my-head (after one cup of coffee) suggestions. I hope I helped a little!
 
One of the problems of learning English for us Chinese is that we do not have the conception of what tense is, and after a few years of hard work, I still find myself confused about the present tense used in the story writing or other works.

It is believed that tense is closely linked to the time, so it is usual and easily understood we use past tense to tell a story. I also notice that it is quite hard to determine when to use the proper tense, sometimes there are also parts of the stories using present tense to describe an event which is supposed to have taken place earlier, which is confusing us. Our teacher told us that it is OK to use present tense to describe a historic event as if it happens right now before your eyes. But I also see there are places in the same writing where various (mainly past and present tenses mixed) to illustrate an event.

Would anybody share with us how to properly use the tenses in writing (like in stories, essays and papers).

This site has a good description of English tenses.

As you say, present tense is sometimes used for describing past events. This is most common in informal English. For example, I might say to my friends: "Here I am, driving along the road, when this truck comes out of nowhere, cuts in front of me and jams on the brakes".

But if I was telling the same story to my insurance company I would probably use simple past: "I was driving along the road, when a truck overtook me, cut in front of me, and jammed on the brakes".

It's hard to describe exactly how native English speakers decide which tense to use - I think you just have to read or listen to a lot of English-language work to get a feel for it. But simple past tense is usually a good choice for writing in English.

I mostly work in simple past, using other tenses when there's a specific reason. The other past tenses are useful for describing complex chronology: "Before I worked at Alpha Corp, I had been a chef, at the same time as I was working on an arts degree; afterwards I would go on to be a plumber. Today I'm a doctor and tomorrow I will be an astronaut."

As Hypoxia has noted, present tense is good for stories where you don't want readers to know whether the narrator will survive. Past tense sometimes feels a bit more emotionally detached, so some writers will shift into present tense when they want more emotional power (e.g. for the sex scenes).

By the way, even native English speakers often have difficulty with tenses. If you're reading amateur writing and the tenses are changing around, sometimes it's simply because the author made a mistake!
 
The way I always like to think of it is that you write a story in the past tense but your characters say things in the present tense.
I don't know if that's the proper way to do it but it is how I've always done it when writing.
 
The way I always like to think of it is that you write a story in the past tense but your characters say things in the present tense.
I don't know if that's the proper way to do it but it is how I've always done it when writing.

That's really good advice.

So then I told her, "I really want to eat your pussy." And then she said to me, "Go for it, you stud!"

I suppose it does take a bit of an ear for the language, doesn't it?

@Bramblethorn - thanks for the excellent link!
 
What confuses you is called praesens historicum, a common feature in the majority of IE languages (incl. English). We often use present tense instead of past, in order to make our speech/text more vivid.

Have a look at this ----> https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/历史现在时
 
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I think one thing not mentioned is that, for fiction, tense conveys different feelings, and writers will experiment with the same piece in different tenses to see how it puts the reader in the story, or distances them from aspects.

The prime example, and a cheesy one, is that we don't put stories about the future in future tense, because future tense is horribly clumsy and sticks out, which would draw the reader's awareness away from the story and to the language.

When you're talking about fiction writing, the rules are, in part, irrelevant. The writer may use past or present tense for different reasons, and then, in a similar work, use the opposite tense for other reasons. These reasons are not for grammatical reasons, but for narrative choices.

It's torture, because sometimes, while writing, you can't decide what tense to go with, and then you have the fun of finding all the uses of the tense you don't decide to go with when you're done.

She glides her fingers along the fabric as she speaks.
She glided her fingers along the fabric as she spoke.

There's actually no reason, grammatically, to choose one of those two over the other in fiction. But for the narrative, especially in context of more story, there may be many reasons an author chooses one over the other, but that is the art, not science, end of it.
 
Okay, to clarify further:

Present tense, past tense, and future tense basically follow the same pattern.

Each one assigns a COMPLETELY ARBITRARY MOMENT as the default time of telling.

Examples:

Present tense:
I am eating Tom's wife. I have been eating Tom's wife all month. I should mention, I have eaten Tom's sister, too.

Here, the first sentence is the time that determines which form of present tense is in all the other sentences, all other versions of present tense are relative to am/are + verb. It is the RIGHT NOW of the sentence. The second sentence(have been+ VERB) means it started before, and is still going on, and she's totally loving it. The last, have + verb, which is considered present tense, is actually stating something that happened before, so, in reality, it is in the past, but is in present tense.

Past tense:
I was eating Tom's wife. I had been eating Tom's wife all month. I had eaten Tom's sister, too.

Again, the first sentence, was/were + verb, is the time that all the other uses of past tense will be relative to. At some point in the past, Tom's wife was either attacked by a rather frank cannibal, or pleasured mercilessly. The second sentence states that this had begun BEFORE that time, and continued to at least that time. The last sentence says that before any of that, Tom's sister was also either consumed whole, or got some spa style vagina treatment.

Future is EXACTLY the same.

Now, the one thing to mention, is that without the 'is' in 'he is running', we have 'he runs', which is more describing habit. So ignore that.

So tense IS about time, BUT, every tense has a way to reference anything that happens before a certain arbitrary point defined by TO BE + VERB. In short, present tense has a form for something that actually happened in the past, past has a form to discuss things that happened before the past time that is focused on, and future is the same.

Fucked up, right?
 
Now, and I think last thing I have to say.

If talking about history, past tense.

If writing historical fiction, totally up to the writer. But if he uses future tense, he hates all life, and should be gutted, and a symphony made of his screams.

If I'm relating a historical event, I will never say:

Hitler is invading Poland.

There are two reasons.

The first is that it sounds weird to us.

The second is that we did not do a particularly good job on keeping tabs on all those Nazis after the war, and so we try not to muddy the issue for those who believe he is in Argentina building an army of clones. If they hear he is in Poland, they will be so disappointed, as he's had a lot of time to prepare, and he's going to begin his sequel the exact same way? People have screamed about this sort of plotting for the new Star Wars film, and those people are not entirely made up of Nazis. This would be like chaos, like hell meets the entire discography of syfy attempts at action movies, it would be like trying to decide at 45 whether to date an eighteen year old or whether to let exotic spiders lay eggs in your eyes and howler monkees poke your ears out with sticks. In short, it would be the GB.

Now, for essays and papers, it can be a bit difficult. I may have to think a bit on how to cover it.

The study focused on deals with the effects of Hitler Disnification on slack-lobed Stormfront knuckle draggers.

The above sentence has a present and a past tense, and I'm really trying to think of the easiest way to explain it.

I'll try to think of a good way to cover this. Formal papers are a bit funky to explain.
 
For Chinese speakers, who use articles to convey tense(simply adding certain characters in certain positions relative to the verbs), one of the problems they face is that they, like everyone else, are never told that one of the present tense forms is actually for describing a past event. And that all three, past, present, and future, follow this same pattern.

If using present tense, you don't actually need to go to past tense to describe something in the past, unless it is going to be a long passage. You use HAVE/HAS+VERB.

He is ready. He has looked into the darkness, he has searched out the name of the beast, and it is his boss.

Only the first sentence there is actually occurring in the present. The rest all already happened. Yet we consider it all present tense. Chinese speakers learn it as present tense, and assume we would not lie to them.

Yet we lie. We have lied. We will continue lying.

Actually, it's really just a case of using them this way being our habit, we don't necessarily have to spend as long on verb tense, since we hear and use it all the time, and so descriptions of its use are a bit sad.
 
Okay, to clarify further:

Present tense, past tense, and future tense basically follow the same pattern.

Each one assigns a COMPLETELY ARBITRARY MOMENT as the default time of telling.

Examples:

Present tense:
I am eating Tom's wife. I have been eating Tom's wife all month. I should mention, I have eaten Tom's sister, too.

Here, the first sentence is the time that determines which form of present tense is in all the other sentences, all other versions of present tense are relative to am/are + verb. It is the RIGHT NOW of the sentence. The second sentence(have been+ VERB) means it started before, and is still going on, and she's totally loving it. The last, have + verb, which is considered present tense, is actually stating something that happened before, so, in reality, it is in the past, but is in present tense.

Past tense:
I was eating Tom's wife. I had been eating Tom's wife all month. I had eaten Tom's sister, too.

Again, the first sentence, was/were + verb, is the time that all the other uses of past tense will be relative to. At some point in the past, Tom's wife was either attacked by a rather frank cannibal, or pleasured mercilessly. The second sentence states that this had begun BEFORE that time, and continued to at least that time. The last sentence says that before any of that, Tom's sister was also either consumed whole, or got some spa style vagina treatment.

Future is EXACTLY the same.

Now, the one thing to mention, is that without the 'is' in 'he is running', we have 'he runs', which is more describing habit. So ignore that.

So tense IS about time, BUT, every tense has a way to reference anything that happens before a certain arbitrary point defined by TO BE + VERB. In short, present tense has a form for something that actually happened in the past, past has a form to discuss things that happened before the past time that is focused on, and future is the same.

Fucked up, right?

Not in the telling, but the happening.

When the voice is speaking in past tense, then the action has already happened and someone is telling you about it.

When the voice is speaking in present tense, then the action is happening as it is told.

When the voice is speaking in future tense, then the action will be taking place in the future...and unless you have a time machine this is highly unlike. A possible reason no one writes in future tense, except maybe in first person or the narrator is a fortune teller.

Just my opinion, not really worth anything, but that's how I look at it.
 
Not in the telling, but the happening.


When the voice is speaking in present tense, then the action is happening as it is told.

To be clear, this is partially wrong. Not in the "You are WRONG on the internet, I have won!" sense, but more, just missing one element.

1) I write. Verb, means it is my habit to write.

2) I am writing. AM/ARE+VERB-ing. Means right now, I'm writing, THE ONLY FORM OF PRESENT TENSE THAT MEANS RIGHT NOW I AM WRITING

3) I have written. HAVE/HAS+VERB, means that IN THE PAST verb was done, this action is not occurring in any sense in the present, yet this is a form of present tense

4) I have been writing. HAVE/HAS+BEEN+VERB-ing. Means before, I was writing, and now, I'm still writing. So, this is describing a past action that continues into the present.

Only number 2 tells us an action only happening right now, and number 3 tells us a past action, not a present action at all.

Any use of 3 and 4 is relative to use of 2. Two is the fixed point in time that determines when one uses them. And to use 3, you are definitely conveying a past action, not a present one. But you are doing so in present tense.

This is why tense is so confusing for foreign speakers. Because of the semantic confusion of calling the tenses past, present, and future.
 
This is my sad attempt to help the OP in their own language. Forgive me.

在英文, 我们不喜欢在段里改变写的时。 如果一个段用现在时,我们经常不要在段里用过去时。

为了做这样所有的时(过去时,现在时,将来时)都有办法。

一个例子: 在现在时, 如果要说以前做的事情,用HAVE/HAD+VERB-这个是现在时, 但是真的说过去的东西。

为了说以前开始的动作,现在更做的,用HAVE/HAD BEEN+VERB-ing- 还是现在时, 可是有些过去的内容。

在故事里面, 作者经常选择用一个时。 他们有时候用多的时。

将来时一点不同。 它的规则一点一样, 可是如果用太多的将来时不漂亮, 因为所有的句子需要WILL, WILL RUN, WILL BE RUNNING, WILL HAVE RUN, 等等。 所以别的时会用这种的办法为了说过去的事情, 可是都用将来时为了说未来的。将来时用的如黑胡椒, 别的时用的如菜, 明白了吗?
 
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To be clear, this is partially wrong. Not in the "You are WRONG on the internet, I have won!" sense, but more, just missing one element.

1) I write. Verb, means it is my habit to write.

2) I am writing. AM/ARE+VERB-ing. Means right now, I'm writing, THE ONLY FORM OF PRESENT TENSE THAT MEANS RIGHT NOW I AM WRITING

3) I have written. HAVE/HAS+VERB, means that IN THE PAST verb was done, this action is not occurring in any sense in the present, yet this is a form of present tense

4) I have been writing. HAVE/HAS+BEEN+VERB-ing. Means before, I was writing, and now, I'm still writing. So, this is describing a past action that continues into the present.

Only number 2 tells us an action only happening right now, and number 3 tells us a past action, not a present action at all.

Any use of 3 and 4 is relative to use of 2. Two is the fixed point in time that determines when one uses them. And to use 3, you are definitely conveying a past action, not a present one. But you are doing so in present tense.

This is why tense is so confusing for foreign speakers. Because of the semantic confusion of calling the tenses past, present, and future.

Uh...

Present:
Susan runs down the street to get away from her attacker.

Past:
Susan ran down the street to get away from the person who attacked her.

Future:
This afternoon, Susan will run down the street to get away from a person who will attack her.
 
I don't know Chinese rules of grammar enough to draw a parallel, but I've experienced how translation issues can be confusing in other languages.

You're asking a very complex question and there really is not a simple answer. To answer the most basic form of your question: Yes. You may use more than one tense in writing because stories often include present action, reflection on the past, and anticipation of the future.

You may find that it's best to write what you are trying to say and then have someone show you how it would be edited. It would help you both with grammar and with usage.

:)
 
Uh...

Present:
Susan runs down the street to get away from her attacker.

Past:
Susan ran down the street to get away from the person who attacked her.

Future:
This afternoon, Susan will run down the street to get away from a person who will attack her.

Present simple, or present perfect, or present continuous, for example, is an illustration of the problem. Present tense is four forms, same with past and future. And, for present tense, one of those forms is literally 'being in the state of being one who has done something in the past'.
 
Present simple, or present perfect, or present continuous, for example, is an illustration of the problem. Present tense is four forms, same with past and future. And, for present tense, one of those forms is literally 'being in the state of being one who has done something in the past'.

Cool...got some examples? Inquiring minds would like to know. :rolleyes:
 
"to be" conjugation

Present

I am
you are
he/she/it is
we are
you are
they are

Present continuous
I am being
you are being
he/she/it is being
we are being
you are being
they are being

Simple past
I was
you were
he/she/it was
we were
you were
they were

Past continuous
I was being
you were being
he/she/it was being
we were being
you were being
they were being

Present perfect
I have been
you have been
he/she/it has been
we have been
you have been
they have been

Present perfect continuous
I have been being
you have been being
he/she/it has been being
we have been being
you have been being
they have been being

Past perfect
I had been
you had been
he/she/it had been
we had been
you had been
they had been

Past perfect continuous
I had been being
you had been being
he/she/it had been being
we had been being
you had been being
they had been being

Future
I will be
you will be
he/she/it will be
we will be
you will be
they will be

Future continuous
I will be being
you will be being
he/she/it will be being
we will be being
you will be being
they will be being

Future perfect
I will have been
you will have been
he/she/it will have been
we will have been
you will have been
they will have been

Future perfect continuous
I will have been being
you will have been being
he/she/it will have been being
we will have been being
you will have been being
they will have been being

Conditional present
I would be
you would be
he/she/it would be
we would be
you would be
they would be

Conditional perfect
I would have been
you would have been
he/she/it would have been
we would have been
you would have been
they would have been

Conditional present progressive
I would be being
you would be being
he/she/it would be being
we would be being
you would be being
they would be being

Conditional perfect progressive
I would have been being
you would have been being
he/she/it would have been being
we would have been being
you would have been being
they would have been being

Present subjunctive
I be
you be; beest
he/she/it be
we be
you be
they be

Past subjunctive
I were
you were; wert
he/she/it were
we were
you were
they were

Past perfect subjunctive
I had been
you had been
he/she/it had been
we had been
you had been
they had been

Imperative
you be
we Let´s be
you be

Present participle
being

Past participle
been


© Princeton University
__________________

Link to site of conjugated verbs. Walk as an example:

http://en.bab.la/conjugation/english/walk
 
"to be" conjugation

Present

I am
you are
he/she/it is
we are
you are
they are

Present continuous
I am being
you are being
he/she/it is being
we are being
you are being
they are being

Simple past
I was
you were
he/she/it was
we were
you were
they were

Past continuous
I was being
you were being
he/she/it was being
we were being
you were being
they were being

Present perfect
I have been
you have been
he/she/it has been
we have been
you have been
they have been

Present perfect continuous
I have been being
you have been being
he/she/it has been being
we have been being
you have been being
they have been being

Past perfect
I had been
you had been
he/she/it had been
we had been
you had been
they had been

Past perfect continuous
I had been being
you had been being
he/she/it had been being
we had been being
you had been being
they had been being

Future
I will be
you will be
he/she/it will be
we will be
you will be
they will be

Future continuous
I will be being
you will be being
he/she/it will be being
we will be being
you will be being
they will be being

Future perfect
I will have been
you will have been
he/she/it will have been
we will have been
you will have been
they will have been

Future perfect continuous
I will have been being
you will have been being
he/she/it will have been being
we will have been being
you will have been being
they will have been being

Conditional present
I would be
you would be
he/she/it would be
we would be
you would be
they would be

Conditional perfect
I would have been
you would have been
he/she/it would have been
we would have been
you would have been
they would have been

Conditional present progressive
I would be being
you would be being
he/she/it would be being
we would be being
you would be being
they would be being

Conditional perfect progressive
I would have been being
you would have been being
he/she/it would have been being
we would have been being
you would have been being
they would have been being

Present subjunctive
I be
you be; beest
he/she/it be
we be
you be
they be

Past subjunctive
I were
you were; wert
he/she/it were
we were
you were
they were

Past perfect subjunctive
I had been
you had been
he/she/it had been
we had been
you had been
they had been

Imperative
you be
we Let´s be
you be

Present participle
being

Past participle
been


© Princeton University
__________________

Link to site of conjugated verbs. Walk as an example:

http://en.bab.la/conjugation/english/walk

Thank you Ogg...now I see why I only write in Present and Past Simple. Mostly Past Simple. I think I tried Present tense, but then changed to Past Simple.
 
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Thank you Ogg...now I see why I only write in Present and Past Simple. Mostly Past Simple. I think I tried Present tense, but then changed to Past Simple.

The reason some avoid doing this is it turns very sequency. "I walked across the bar and handed her the envelope" doesn't cause a lot of problems, but once a whole work is written this way, it can be problematic.

Here's a random example of two forms of past tense in a passage from Game of Thrones(I don't have my English library here in China, so there's only three books in English on the shelf).

"Ser Wylis and his brother Ser Wendel followed, leading their their levies, near fifteen hundred men: some twenty-odd knights and as many squires, two hundred mounted lances, swordsmen, and freeriders, and the rest foot, armed with spears, pikes and tridents. Lord Wyman had remained behind to see to the defenses of White Harbor."

The last sentence is past perfect tense, but precedes the earlier portion (perfect here means completed).

Present tense follows the same rules. Many writers are loathe to shift too frequently from present tense to past, as present perfect can convey past information without taking the reader out of the immediacy of the present. Mind you, whether any particular shift does take the reader out of the present in a narrative sense is highly situational.

However, for foreign students of English, since we all reflexively use many of these forms, it's really important to understand it conceptually, as they do not have the same background we have that allows us to use it reflexively.
 
Thanks for every one trying to help, and one friend even tried to use Chinese, yes, it is very touching, thank you, it did help me a lot.

In my reading recently, I did find a real example, so I share as follows, and hope it can help me clarify my question. (I think I did not make myself fully understood when I made the question a while back.)

Well, William Dobbin had for once forgotten the world, and was away with Sindbad the Sailor in the Valley of Diamonds....when shrill cries, as of a little fellow weeping, woke up his pleasant reverie; and looking up, he saw Cuff before him, belabouring a little boy.
It was the lad who had peached upon him about the grocer's cart; but he bore little malice, not at least towards the young and small. "How dare you, sir, break the bottle?" says Cuff to the little urchin, swinging a yellow cricket-stump over him.
------Chapter 5 Dobbin of Ours, Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

Please note that the event is in a past time, so it is not difficult to understand the past tense, but why the verb is "says Cuff", not "said Cuff", it is not a typo, is it? And the following paragraph tells me that it is not a typo. Please help me understand the tense here.
 
Well, William Dobbin had for once forgotten the world, and was away with Sindbad the Sailor in the Valley of Diamonds....when shrill cries, as of a little fellow weeping, woke up his pleasant reverie; and looking up, he saw Cuff before him, belabouring a little boy.
It was the lad who had peached upon him about the grocer's cart; but he bore little malice, not at least towards the young and small. "How dare you, sir, break the bottle?" says Cuff to the little urchin, swinging a yellow cricket-stump over him.
------Chapter 5 Dobbin of Ours, Vanity Fair by William Thackeray

Please note that the event is in a past time, so it is not difficult to understand the past tense, but why the verb is "says Cuff", not "said Cuff", it is not a typo, is it? And the following paragraph tells me that it is not a typo. Please help me understand the tense here.

English usage changes through history. Thackeray wrote Vanity Fair about 170 years ago, and if you read other writing from the same time you may find more examples like that. But it would be unusual in modern written English - it sounds very old-fashioned.

You might still find that sort of usage in informal speech, something like this:

"Tell us what happened to you last Thursday."

"Well, I'm walking along the street minding my own business, then suddenly a black cat crosses in front of me..."

According to most rules of English grammar this is incorrect grammar, but it's a rule that people break a lot when speaking - not so much when writing.
 
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