Look Good in Print

This text will refresh your memory or introduce you to the common writing rules for Standard American English. It addresses the 22 most common errors found in writing. Applying and using the fundamentals of good writing will ensure that your writing is clear, concise, and achieves your intended purposes.

02C: VERBS

20. Determine the Right Verb Tense

The purpose of a verb's tense is to indicate the time frame for an action or state of being. Using the wrong verb tense might create confusion about when something is happening, has happened, or will happen. Experienced English speakers instinctively use the correct verb tense most of the time, but the "perfect" tenses cause headaches for many writers. Exhibit 2C.4 explains the use of the three most common perfect tenses.

Verb Tense	Example	Why this Tense is Used
Present Perfect	He *has been* sick for three days.	Present perfect indicates an action that has been occurring over a period of time up to and including the present.
Past Perfect	He *had been* to Hawaii twice before he saw the volcano.	Past perfect indicates a completed action that took place before another action in the past.
Future Perfect	She *will have been* in college for six years by the time she graduates.	Future perfect indicates a completed action that will take place before another action in the future.

Exhibit 2C.4 Three Most Common Perfect Tenses

Note that each of these sentences contains a "time marker" - three days, twice, six years. Perfect tenses always take time markers.

Two additional verb-tense rules are worth knowing.

20.1 Use the present tense to express a permanent truth or condition.

Suppose that someone says to you, "What did you say your name was?" Though the person might have been introduced to you last week, if your actual name is the same today as it was last week, the question should be phrased: "What did you say your name is?" Here is an additional example:

NO: Reactions to the merger appeared on page 14A of last Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

(Wait, did the the WSJ editors move the article to a different page?)

YES: Reactions to the merger appear on page 14A of last Tuesday's Wall Street Journal.

(Last week's paper still exists and the article is still on page 14A).

20.2 Avoid the temptation to double conjugate

a pair of closely occurring verbs. "Conjugate" means to convert the verb from its base form (called the "infinitive") to a form that is specific to a person, place, or thing doing the action. Here's an example:

NO: I would have liked to have seen the presentation in person.

YES: I would have liked to see the presentation in person

Since the verb "would have liked" has already set the event in its time frame, the infinitive form (to + base verb) is correct for the second verb.