When we write about something, we give it a sense of time. Something happened yesterday. Something is happening now. Something will happen tomorrow. Whatever time we choose, we must stick with it to keep our meaning clear.

      Yesterday, Estelle said she is unhappy.

Since we identify this happening as being yesterday, our verb must agree by showing the past.

     Yesterday, Estelle said she was unhappy.

We really don't know if she is unhappy today, so we can use the present unless we are quoting Estelle directly.

Yesterday, Estelle said, "I am unhappy."

In long sentences we must be particularly careful to see that our sense of time remains the same.

     Ralph went to the game and is very unhappy that the blonde cheerleader said she is going out with Kent.

Notice the disagreement among the time words. Since we start out in the past, all time words should refer to past.

     Ralph went to the game and was very unhappy that the blonde cheerleader said she was going out with Kent.

Sometimes we need to use different time words to make things clear.

     Estelle is planning what she will do to Ralph to pay him back for what he did to her.

Here we have all three times, past, present, and future, in one sentence. But using all three is necessary to make the meaning clear. Estelle is planning now to do something to Ralph in the future for what he did to her in the past. Ordinarily, though, we keep the time sense consistent. Rereading your sentences to check on their agreement in time should allow you to catch any disagreements. The sense of time is not restricted to individual sentences, but to an entire piece of writing. If you write about a past event, the whole essay should reflect past time.

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