1. I arrive at Terry's house, and he answered the door.

2. I arrived at Terry's house, and he answers the door.

These two sentences, though rather ordinary, point out the need to pay attention to choice of time (tense) in our verbs, and the need to keep that time consistent. When we begin to write, we choose a time of the action, past, present, or future. Once we make that choice, we must stick with it or risk confusing our readers.

In sentence number 1, for instance, we start with present tense - arrive - but shift to past - answered - in the second half. That is inconsistency in time, and our readers can't be sure if this action is happening now or happened earlier. Since we started with present tense, we need to stick with it.

I arrive at Terry's house, and he answers the door.

In sentence number 2, we have the reverse. We start with past and shift to present. Here, we should stay in the past.

I arrived at Terry's house, and he answered the door.

When you write on essay, be sure in your proofreading to check your tenses. Keep time consistent throughout so your reader will not be sidetracked by wondering what happened to the time sequence.

1. is a list of verb tenses and some examples of each.

PRESENT TENSE - expresses action occurring now, at the present time.

1. Who is it?

2. Bill throws to first base.

3. Water freezes at 0? C. (states a general truth or fact)

4. Jerry sleeps until noon everyday. (shows habitual action)

In Star Wars, Luke Skywalker combats the forces of evil. (uses present tense to state what an author or character does in a book or movie)

PAST TENSE - expresses action that occurred in the past but did not continue into the present.

1. I fell on the ice.

2. I was falling when Larry grabbed my arm.

3. I did fall, though.

4. I used to fall all the time.

FUTURE TENSE - expresses action about something happening in the future.

1. The baseball team will play Keokuk next week.

2. The baseball team will be playing Keokuk at 6:30.

3. The baseball team will be going to play at Keokuk next week.

4. The college's baseball team and the Keokuk team are about to play.

PRESENT PERFECT TENSE - expresses (A) action occurring at no definite time In the past or (B) action occurring in the past and continuing into the present.

1. The students have enlisted the help of a lawyer. (action occurred at no specific time)

2. The students have been enlisting the help of sensitive citizens. (past action continues into present)

PAST PERFECT TENSE - expresses action completed in the post before another past action occurred.

1. I had played in the championship game before I received my award. (The championship game occurred before the award was received.)

2. After I had been trying to get a date with Gina for three weeks, I gave it up. (Trying preceded giving it up.)

FUTURE PERFECT TENSE - expresses action that will be completed in the future before another action occurs.

1. By the end of 1988, I will have received my degree.

2. By the end of 1988, I will have been going to school for 18 years

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