Skip to main content
Bumped by Community user
added 70 characters in body
Source Link
Zanko
  • 117
  • 2

I was taught to pick a tense when writing a story. So normally I choose past tense. But how to deal with this ambiguity?

  • John was brave the day before.
  • John was a kind person.

Does this mean John is no longer kind?

In the story time line John is still brave as of now. But since the story happened in the past I have to use "was". How can I convey presentness within the past?

English is not my first language. I hope this make some sort of sense!

I was taught to pick a tense when writing a story. So normally I choose past tense. But how to deal with this ambiguity?

  • John was brave the day before.

In the story time line John is still brave as of now. But since the story happened in the past I have to use "was". How can I convey presentness within the past?

English is not my first language. I hope this make some sort of sense!

I was taught to pick a tense when writing a story. So normally I choose past tense. But how to deal with this ambiguity?

  • John was brave the day before.
  • John was a kind person.

Does this mean John is no longer kind?

In the story time line John is still brave as of now. But since the story happened in the past I have to use "was". How can I convey presentness within the past?

English is not my first language. I hope this make some sort of sense!

Source Link
Zanko
  • 117
  • 2

Writing a novel past tense confusion

I was taught to pick a tense when writing a story. So normally I choose past tense. But how to deal with this ambiguity?

  • John was brave the day before.

In the story time line John is still brave as of now. But since the story happened in the past I have to use "was". How can I convey presentness within the past?

English is not my first language. I hope this make some sort of sense!