Verb agreement in the sentence

Question

Every morning right after I went to the bathroom, I tell myself

In the sentence above should went and tell agree?

Is above correct?

Jay · Accepted Answer · 2011-01-25 14:45:37Z

up vote 1 down vote accepted

No; went should be replaced with go. Tell is present-tense, as is go. Went is past-tense.

Every morning, right after I go to the bathroom, I tell myself…

If you were referring to a specific instance in the past, you could write,

Yesterday morning, right after I went to the bathroom, I told myself…

answered Jan 25 '11 at 14:45

Jay
2,291717

	You could also use the present perfect: "Every morning, right after I have gone to the bathroom, I tell myself..." – Kosmonaut Jan 25 '11 at 15:09
	…or "Every morning, right after going to the bathroom, I tell myself…" – Jay Jan 25 '11 at 15:18

RedGrittyBrick · Answer 2 · 2011-01-25 14:52:27Z

The sentence you quoted should use the same tense for both verbs. The actions are more or less contemporaneous.

Every morning right after I went to the bathroom, I told myself…

Every morning right after I go to the bathroom, I tell myself…

Because the first sentence above is in the past tense, it implies you no longer have this habit.

2 Answers