should i use past or present tense in essay

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

Tense Use in Essays: Past vs. Present

• 2-minute read
• 16th April 2016

It’s mostly time travellers who worry about the more convoluted aspects of grammatical tense , but the issue of tense use in academic writing is, nonetheless, controversial.

To be specific, there is much disagreement about tense use in essays : specifically, is past or present tense best? Today, we look into this tricky problem.

Present Tense

The present tense is used when discussing current events or states. It will often be the dominant tense used in academic writing due to the number of situations to which it applies:

• Stating general principles or theories (e.g. ‘The third law of thermodynamics states …’)
• Describing a fact (e.g. ‘Catalysts increase the rate of a reaction…’)
• Expressing an opinion or making a claim (e.g. ‘I believe further research is required…’)
• Analysing the results of an experiment (e.g. ‘The results show that…’)

In all these cases, the present tense shows that something applies at the current time or emphasises its relevance to the present.

The present tense can also do this in a literature review, since it frames research in terms of its current significance. This shows that you’re engaged with ongoing debate in your field of study, not simply describing out-of-date research.

The past tense is used when describing events that have already happened. In academic writing, this could be writing up a completed experiment.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

For example, the past tense can be used in methodology and results sections. Likewise, the past tense is useful when writing a case study, since this is almost always about something that has already occurred.

While you can use the past tense in a literature review, saying that someone ‘believed’ something may imply that they changed their mind. As such, the past tense can be used for discussing ‘dead’ ideas (i.e. things that no-one holds true any more) or something that someone has since disavowed.

Future Tense

The future tense is useful for discussing things that are yet to happen, such as when we commit to doing something (e.g. ‘I will continue to research this issue’).

Generally, you won’t need to do this too often in academic writing. However, the future tense can be useful in the following situations:

• Making predictions about the future
• Offering recommendations based on your results
• Suggesting new avenues of research

In all these cases, the future tense will help you express yourself more clearly.

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Get help from a language expert. Try our proofreading services for free.

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

How to Ace Slack Messaging for Contractors and Freelancers

Effective professional communication is an important skill for contractors and freelancers navigating remote work environments....

3-minute read

How to Insert a Text Box in a Google Doc

Google Docs is a powerful collaborative tool, and mastering its features can significantly enhance your...

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Go to Index

Subscribe to The Chicago Manual of Style Online

Sign up for a free trial

Now Available for Preorder! The Chicago Manual of Style, 18th Edition

NEW! CMOS 18 Merch!!

CMOS for PerfectIt Proofreading Software

Usage and Grammar

Q. When writing about an author’s work, do you write in the past or present tense? Example: The author argues (argued) that it was the correct choice. Please help. Thanks.

A. Different kinds of writing have different conventions. In academic writing, it’s not wrong to use the past tense when quoting written works, but it’s conventional to use the “historical present,” even when the author is dead (Heraclitus says, “No one steps into the same river twice”). In a newspaper interview, however, the present implies that someone is in the habit of saying something, rather than that he or she said it one time, and it is more likely to be found with paraphrasing than with a direct quotation (Mr. Obama says that the health care system needs fixing). “Said” in the same context implies that a person said something on a particular occasion (in his speech last night Mr. Obama said that the health care system needs fixing). And “said” used with quotation marks indicates that the person spoke the actual words on a particular occasion (Mr. Obama said, “We spend one and a half times more per person on health care than any other country, but we aren’t any healthier for it”).

The CMOS Shop Talk Blog

CMOS  editors share writing tips, editing ideas, interviews, quizzes, and more!

NEW! The Chicago Guide for Freelance Editors, by Erin Brenner

NEW! The CSE Manual: Scientific Style and Format, Ninth Edition

NEW! The Design of Books, by Debbie Berne

NEW! Developmental Editing, Second Edition, by Scott Norton

Retro Chic(ago)

Visit the CMOS Bookstore

Charitable Giving Helps Advance Our Mission

Books for students, writers, and editors.

Writers Ask: Is it okay to switch between past and present tense?

by MontanaCoauthor | Feb 2, 2020 | Writing Process Tips | 4 comments

“I  keep finding myself switching between past and present tense as I am writing, depending on the severity of the story. Is that ok? Do I need to just pick one? I am having the hardest time with it. ”

–Devon Fountaine

– Answer: Anika Hanisch, Author Coach

I love this question.  It’s one of the most common and over-looked challenges in early draft-writing.  We usually don’t know we’re switching verb tenses until an editor points it out (“I walk into the bar…” vs. “I walked into the bar…”).  So, kudos to this author for catching the issue in her own writing.

It’s encouraging to know that every writer does this.  Novelists, memoirists, how-to writers, inspirational authors, celebrity biographers.  New writers.  Established authors.  Really, everyone. 

The short answer is: Don’t worry about it for now.   During early drafts, it’s crucial to treat your writing process as an interview with yourself.  If you were interviewing another person for a magazine article, you wouldn’t interrupt them to correct their grammar.  That would be rude and it would shut down the interview!  So don’t do that to yourself, okay?  Set the editor hat aside.  Draft write in whatever tense feels comfortable at the moment, without self-censoring.

But if you’re on the verge of beginning significant revision, preparing to craft your first shareable draft, it’s good to know what’s required to “revise for consistent verb tense”.  First a few observations clarifying the meaning of “switching verb tense” and why it happens…

Why Do We Instinctively Change Verb Tenses? 

Tense shift almost always indicates an emotional shift in the author, either a need to draw incredibly close to the moment (a sudden shift to present tense “I am here”) or an equally obvious distancing from the material (a shift from present to past tense “I was there”).

Every author differs on when they pull in and when they push back from a scene.  Some writers shift to present tense when emotion heightens (Then I run out of my room).  Others shift to past tense as soon as the material gets hot (Then I ran out of my room…).  But each individual writer has their own patterns. 

Now, tense-shift isn’t solely triggered by emotionally challenging material.  Humorists and action writers frequently shift from past to present tense as soon as action heightens.  For example:

We’d been married for three months and I decided to make dinner to celebrate.  I planned to make a broccoli-cheese soup that she loved and serve it with a baguette from our favorite bakery.  I wanted it to be ready as soon as Sal got home from her shift at the hospital.  But things went wrong.  Seconds before she got home, I stepped out of the kitchen to clean the table.  That’s when I heard the soup boiling over, that sizzling sound.  I race to the kitchen just in time to see half the pot bubbling over onto the electric burner, the smell of burnt broccoli filling the air.  So there I am, right as Sal walks in, holding this pot that’s coated with the charred remains of our dinner and the whole apartment reeks.  All I can say to her is, “So I was wondering about going out for burgers tonight…”

This is a conversational little vignette.  It’s so conversational, you might not have noticed the shift from past tense to present tense (I heard the soup… I race to the kitchen…)  As soon as action heightens, this comedic memoirist shifts from past to present tense.  Come to think of it, most of us make this tense-switch when we’re verbally story-telling.  Watch for it the next time you’re story-swapping with friends.  I bet you’ll notice the habit frequently from now on!

This shift is ubiquitous in our verbal story-sharing.  Of course it shows up in our writing.  That’s okay.  It just can’t remain in the final draft.

Which Tense is Best for My Book?

There are some memoirs and novels that play with tense, intentionally switching between past or present to indicate switches between multiple timelines in the work, or multiple character points-of-view.  A new chapter, or section, begins from a different perspective, and the verb tense shifts.  (Read Niffenegger’s The Time Traveler’s Wife for a novel that volleys between dozens of timelines, but remains almost entirely in present tense.  Almost.  A handful of sections are written, very intentionally, in past tense.  Watch for them!)

Intentional tense-switching is a legitimate option.  But it needs to be implemented with consistency and skill.  If one timeline is in past tense and another in present, always hold to that rule throughout the book or you will lose your reader.  You might break the rule artfully at some key moment in the book.  But again, this needs to be done skillfully, strategically.

For most new authors, once you hit the revision stage, it is best to pick one tense and stick with it for the whole book.   For most memoirists, past tense is best.  It makes logical chronological sense, and it’s usually the easiest verb tense to work with for the full duration of a manuscript.

But again, you’re not worrying about this until you’ve written through your entire first shitty rough draft.  No self-revising in the midst of the draft dump! 

How do You “Revise for Verb Tense”?

For those who really need a preview of what they’re in for, here’s an example of how I clean up raw-draft tense-shifts in my own draft work.  Recently, in the midst of a decent past-tense recollection, a blast of present-tense writing showed up.  On read through, it’s easy to see why I made that sudden shift:

Being there with Dad in the ICU stirred up all those other stressful memories of him.  Those memories glowed and hovered like a fog, just above where he stood at Mom’s bedside.  I could hardly reconcile my remembered-Dad with the man in front of me now.  Another twenty minutes pass, standing there watching him watching her.  Maybe it’s only been five minutes.  Maybe two hours.  You never know in a room this dim.  Whatever the case, it’s been a while, and Mom is supposed to have long periods of ZERO stimulation.  She needs that deep sleep.  But Dad just keeps talking to her quietly.  Keep healing honey.  We’re all here.  We’re all waiting for you to return.  I’ll be here when you open your eyes.  It was so good to see your eyes earlier today.  Slowly I take a step toward my Dad and rest a hand on his shoulder.  He didn’t move. 

It’s a raw moment—one that will always be raw and understandably present-tense in my mind.  But in the final draft, all the sentences will need to be in past tense like the rest of the book.  Let’s look at the challenges that show up in revising this.  Sentence 7, with its conversational second-person voice (“You never know…”), will lose its poetry in a straight revision to past tense.  Writers run into all sorts of challenges like this.  Revising for tense usually takes a much more work than simply adjusting the verbs. 

Here’s what might work, with edited phrases highlighted:

Being there with Dad in the ICU stirred up all those other stressful memories of him.  Those memories glowed and hovered like a fog, just above where he stood at Mom’s bedside.  I could hardly reconcile my remembered-Dad with the man in front of me now.  Another twenty minutes passed, watching Dad stroke Mom’s hand and forehead.  Maybe it was actually five minutes.  Mayb e two hours.  Time turned muddy in that dimly lit room.  Whatever the case, it had been a while, and we were supposed to let Mom have long periods of no stimulation.  She needed that deep sleep.  But Dad just kept talking to her quietly.  Keep healing honey.  We’re all here.  We’re all waiting for you to return.  I’ll be here when you open your eyes.  It was so good to see your eyes earlier today.  I took a step toward my Dad and rested a hand on his shoulder .  He didn’t move. 

Notice the italic passage stays in present tense.  That’s okay.  It’s an approximation of Dad’s monologue in that moment .  Quoted dialogue, or quoted inner self-talk, stays in whatever tense it was in when originally spoken .  Notice that the phrase “… the man in front of me now” also remains.  That too is fine.  It’s implied summary of a thought I had in that moment. 

There’s an art to the revision process.  Whole sentences and paragraphs get re-written, re-routed, adapted, and often removed.  Revising for verb tense affects the heart and rhythm of each sentence, so revision often requires complete remodeling. 

It’s not always as simple as changing “So I walk into the bar…” to “So I walked into the bar…” 

For Practice:

Dip your toes into the verb-tense revision process, just to let yourself know you can do it! 

• Pick a 200-word passage in your draft material that isn’t in the “right” verb tense.
• Play with changing all present-tense verbs to past-tense (or vice versa). Read the sentences aloud.  Listen for sentences that now feel awkward or clunky because of the verb change.  Mark them as needing extra work. 
• Review the trouble sentences. Play with alternate ways to convey the same thought with more musical wording. 
• Read the passage aloud once more. Not so bad, eh?

Join the Conversation: Did you enjoy this post?  Share your comments below or join the conversation at Anika’s Facebook Page or Instagram ! 

Share your own writing craft question–it may be selected for the next in-depth author-coaching post!

What a relief to know I’m not alone in this! I definitely interrupt myself to edit this issue-I will stop doing this and just continue to write. You analogy about a job interview was really helpful.

Drafting in both tenses seems like a fun option since I change the intensity of the stories but I don’t think in the long run it will be right for me. I really like the idea of present tense. Do you know any examples of memoirs written in present tense?

I have a question about your example… So if you were going to change it to present tense, could you still leave the first couple lines past tense since those sentences are like past tense in the present? i.e. Stirred, glowed and hovered.

Thanks for the follow-up questions! Memoir written in present tense is a rare bird, but it’s powerful when it’s done well. One that I know of is Swimming With Maya by Eleanor Vincent. That’s a tough read about a terrible grief, but it’s skillfully crafted. I’ll put a call out to other writers to try to get a few more titles for your reading list!

Regarding your question about revising my sample passage to present tense: My editorial gut sense is that the whole passage needs to be present tense if it’s within the book’s primary timeline, which this scene is. So…

“Being there with Dad in the ICU stirs up all those other stressful memories of him. Those memories glow and hover like a fog, just above where he stands at Mom’s bedside. I can hardly reconcile my remembered-Dad with the man in front of me now.”

That said, anytime I flash back to a childhood memory or any other backstory scene (something that happens before the book’s primary timeline), those recollections would be in past tense. Eleanor Vincent’s memoir follows that approach, and it’s quite effective. I believe you can “See Inside” the first chapter at her Amazon listing. You should be able to see a couple examples of that skillful past/present shift in the first pages of her work. https://www.amazon.com/dp/0988439042/

I have one other observation about allowing the tense-switches during the draft writing stage. Letting go and allowing that to happen can yield some useful information when you head into “developmental editing”—the stage where you decide which scenes stay, which ones go, which ones need more (or less) emphasis and detail. Some writers mark in the margin where a tense-shift occurs. Sometimes this reveals significant patterns.

For instance, one writer I know always switches to present tense in scenes that are crucial to the development of key characters. That’s informative at the revision stage. It’s a signal that the scene is important and may need more detail. It’s a good place for him to grow the narrative description. That’s probably the most common pattern for memoirists. Though I do know of another writer who discovered that she switches between tenses erratically only when the content becomes unfocused and perhaps off topic. For her, the switches indicate that maybe the scene or passage is not necessary. The patterns are different for each writer, but it can be useful to watch for them and get to know what the tense-switches mean for you.

That is interesting. What I discovered is that I typically start each story in the past tense and switch to present once the story becomes more emotional. I’m not sure what that tells me. Although, I think that is what makes me think I should try it in the present tense. Thank you for the suggestion of Eleanor Vincent. Let me know if you find any others!

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

Writing Studio

How (and why) do i write in literary present tense.

In an effort to make our handouts more accessible, we have begun converting our PDF handouts to web pages. Download this page as a PDF:  How (and why) do I write in literary present tense? Return to Writing Studio Handouts

Literary works, paintings, films, and other artistic creations are assumed to exist in an eternal present. Therefore, when you write about writers or artists as they express themselves in their work, use the present tense.

Past or Present Tense? A Basic Guideline

You should use the past tense when discussing historical events, and you should use the literary present when discussing fictional events.

Context matters , though, so take a look through the more granular guidelines below and keep in mind that expectations and conventions around the tense we use to write about textual sources we are engaging or analyzing may differ between disciplines (for instance, in a history class you might be told to write about texts using past tense that you would be expected to discuss in the ‘literary present’ in an English class.).

Taking a Closer Look: Context-Based Guidelines

1. when commenting on what a writer says, use the present tense..

• Example: “Dunn begins his work with a view into the lives and motivations of the very first settlers.”
• Example: “Through this anecdote, Richter illustrates common misconceptions about native religion and shows why missionary attempts were less than successful.”

2. When describing an author’s work, however, use the past tense.

• Example: “In 1966, Driss Chraïbi published La Civilisation, ma Mère! “

3. When you are writing about a certain historical event (even the creation of a literary or artistic work), use the past tense.

• Example: “Henry Fielding wrote in the eighteenth century.”
• Example: “Picasso produced a series of sculptures.”

4. When discussing events in a literary work (novel, story, play, or poem) always use the present tense, unless there is a shift in the time frame within the world of the text.

• Example: “Evelyn then rips into the carefully wrapped package and finds the greatest gift she has ever received. Her eyes fill with tears as she gazes at the jewel, but Philip does not know that these tears are the results of more than surprised joy. Evelyn is suffering from guilt as she compares this present to the shoddy gift that she bought* for her beau.”

*“ Bought ” is in past tense because the buying of the present occurred before the described set of events.

• Example: “In Michelangelo’s painting, Christ judges the world.”
• Example: “Johnson’s characters journey to Cairo.”
• Example: “Plato argues without much conviction.”
• Example: “Paul writes about the hardships he has endured.”

5. Sometimes a sentence must employ both present and past tense.

• Example: “The first part of the poem, which she completed in 1804, describes the effects of isolation from society.”
• Example: “Aeschylus’ drama is concerned with what happens to Orestes after he has killed his mother.”

Final Tips and Reminders

Remember: it is important to stay consistent..

Moving between verb tenses can be confusing for your reader. Examine your changes of tense very carefully and make sure there is a logical reason for them.

Style Tip: Keeping Sentence-Level Tense Shifts Manageable

If you need to shift tense more than three times in a single sentence, consider breaking up the sentence into a couple of shorter sentences to maintain reading ease.

Last revised: 8/10/2007 | Adapted for web delivery: 07/2021

In order to access certain content on this page, you may need to download Adobe Acrobat Reader or an equivalent PDF viewer software.

Frequently asked questions

What tense should i write my college essay in.

In a college essay , you can be creative with your language . When writing about the past, you can use the present tense to make the reader feel as if they were there in the moment with you. But make sure to maintain consistency and when in doubt, default to the correct verb tense according to the time you’re writing about.

Frequently asked questions: College admissions essays

When writing your Common App essay , choose a prompt that sparks your interest and that you can connect to a unique personal story.

No matter which prompt you choose, admissions officers are more interested in your ability to demonstrate personal development , insight, or motivation for a certain area of study.

The Common App essay is your primary writing sample within the Common Application, a college application portal accepted by more than 900 schools. All your prospective schools that accept the Common App will read this essay to understand your character, background, and value as a potential student.

Since this essay is read by many colleges, avoid mentioning any college names or programs; instead, save tailored answers for the supplementary school-specific essays within the Common App.

Most importantly, your essay should be about you , not another person or thing. An insightful college admissions essay requires deep self-reflection, authenticity, and a balance between confidence and vulnerability.

Your essay shouldn’t be a résumé of your experiences but instead should tell a story that demonstrates your most important values and qualities.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding your message and content. Then, check for flow, tone, style , and clarity. Finally, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors .

If your college essay goes over the word count limit , cut any sentences with tangents or irrelevant details. Delete unnecessary words that clutter your essay.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

If you’ve got to write your college essay fast , don’t panic. First, set yourself deadlines: you should spend about 10% of your remaining time on brainstorming, 10% on outlining, 40% writing, 30% revising, and 10% taking breaks in between stages.

Second, brainstorm stories and values based on your essay prompt.

Third, outline your essay based on the montage or narrative essay structure .

Fourth, write specific, personal, and unique stories that would be hard for other students to replicate.

Fifth, revise your essay and make sure it’s clearly written.

Last, if possible, get feedback from an essay coach . Scribbr essay editors can help you revise your essay in 12 hours or less.

Avoid swearing in a college essay , since admissions officers’ opinions of profanity will vary. In some cases, it might be okay to use a vulgar word, such as in dialogue or quotes that make an important point in your essay. However, it’s safest to try to make the same point without swearing.

If you have bad grades on your transcript, you may want to use your college admissions essay to explain the challenging circumstances that led to them. Make sure to avoid dwelling on the negative aspects and highlight how you overcame the situation or learned an important lesson.

However, some college applications offer an additional information section where you can explain your bad grades, allowing you to choose another meaningful topic for your college essay.

Here’s a brief list of college essay topics that may be considered cliché:

• Extracurriculars, especially sports
• Role models
• Dealing with a personal tragedy or death in the family
• Struggling with new life situations (immigrant stories, moving homes, parents’ divorce)
• Becoming a better person after community service, traveling, or summer camp
• Overcoming a difficult class
• Using a common object as an extended metaphor

It’s easier to write a standout essay with a unique topic. However, it’s possible to make a common topic compelling with interesting story arcs, uncommon connections, and an advanced writing style.

Yes. The college application essay is less formal than other academic writing —though of course it’s not mandatory to use contractions in your essay.

The college admissions essay gives admissions officers a different perspective on you beyond your academic achievements, test scores, and extracurriculars. It’s your chance to stand out from other applicants with similar academic profiles by telling a unique, personal, and specific story.

Use a standard font such as Times New Roman or Arial to avoid distracting the reader from your college essay’s content.

A college application essay is less formal than most academic writing . Instead of citing sources formally with in-text citations and a reference list, you can cite them informally in your text.

For example, “In her research paper on genetics, Quinn Roberts explores …”

There is no set number of paragraphs in a college admissions essay . College admissions essays can diverge from the traditional five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in English class. Just make sure to stay under the specified word count .

Most topics are acceptable for college essays if you can use them to demonstrate personal growth or a lesson learned. However, there are a few difficult topics for college essays that should be avoided. Avoid topics that are:

• Overly personal (e.g. graphic details of illness or injury, romantic or sexual relationships)
• Not personal enough (e.g. broad solutions to world problems, inspiring people or things)
• Too negative (e.g. an in-depth look at your flaws, put-downs of others, criticizing the need for a college essay)
• Too boring (e.g. a resume of your academic achievements and extracurriculars)
• Inappropriate for a college essay (e.g. illegal activities, offensive humor, false accounts of yourself, bragging about privilege)

To write an effective diversity essay , include vulnerable, authentic stories about your unique identity, background, or perspective. Provide insight into how your lived experience has influenced your outlook, activities, and goals. If relevant, you should also mention how your background has led you to apply for this university and why you’re a good fit.

Many universities believe a student body composed of different perspectives, beliefs, identities, and backgrounds will enhance the campus learning and community experience.

Admissions officers are interested in hearing about how your unique background, identity, beliefs, culture, or characteristics will enrich the campus community, which is why they assign a diversity essay .

In addition to your main college essay , some schools and scholarships may ask for a supplementary essay focused on an aspect of your identity or background. This is sometimes called a diversity essay .

You can use humor in a college essay , but carefully consider its purpose and use it wisely. An effective use of humor involves unexpected, keen observations of the everyday, or speaks to a deeper theme. Humor shouldn’t be the main focus of the essay, but rather a tool to improve your storytelling.

Get a second opinion from a teacher, counselor, or essay coach on whether your essay’s humor is appropriate.

Though admissions officers are interested in hearing your story, they’re also interested in how you tell it. An exceptionally written essay will differentiate you from other applicants, meaning that admissions officers will spend more time reading it.

You can use literary devices to catch your reader’s attention and enrich your storytelling; however, focus on using just a few devices well, rather than trying to use as many as possible.

To decide on a good college essay topic , spend time thoughtfully answering brainstorming questions. If you still have trouble identifying topics, try the following two strategies:

• Identify your qualities → Brainstorm stories that demonstrate these qualities
• Identify memorable stories → Connect your qualities to these stories

You can also ask family, friends, or mentors to help you brainstorm topics, give feedback on your potential essay topics, or recall key stories that showcase your qualities.

Yes—admissions officers don’t expect everyone to have a totally unique college essay topic . But you must differentiate your essay from others by having a surprising story arc, an interesting insight, and/or an advanced writing style .

There are no foolproof college essay topics —whatever your topic, the key is to write about it effectively. However, a good topic

• Is meaningful, specific, and personal to you
• Focuses on you and your experiences
• Reveals something beyond your test scores, grades, and extracurriculars
• Is creative and original

Unlike a five-paragraph essay, your admissions essay should not end by summarizing the points you’ve already made. It’s better to be creative and aim for a strong final impression.

You should also avoid stating the obvious (for example, saying that you hope to be accepted).

There are a few strategies you can use for a memorable ending to your college essay :

• Return to the beginning with a “full circle” structure
• Reveal the main point or insight in your story
• Look to the future
• End on an action

The best technique will depend on your topic choice, essay outline, and writing style. You can write several endings using different techniques to see which works best.

College deadlines vary depending on the schools you’re applying to and your application plan:

• For early action applications and the first round of early decision applications, the deadline is on November 1 or 15. Decisions are released by mid-December.
• For the second round of early decision applications, the deadline is January 1 or 15. Decisions are released in January or February.
• Regular decision deadlines usually fall between late November and mid-March, and decisions are released in March or April.
• Rolling admission deadlines run from July to April, and decisions are released around four to eight weeks after submission.

Depending on your prospective schools’ requirements, you may need to submit scores for the SAT or ACT as part of your college application .

Some schools now no longer require students to submit test scores; however, you should still take the SAT or ACT and aim to get a high score to strengthen your application package.

Aim to take the SAT or ACT in the spring of your junior year to give yourself enough time to retake it in the fall of your senior year if necessary.

Apply early for federal student aid and application fee waivers. You can also look for scholarships from schools, corporations, and charitable foundations.

To maximize your options, you should aim to apply to about eight schools:

• Two reach schools that might be difficult to get into
• Four match schools that you have a good chance of getting into
• Two safety schools that you feel confident you’ll get into

The college admissions essay accounts for roughly 25% of the weight of your application .

At highly selective schools, there are four qualified candidates for every spot. While your academic achievements are important, your college admissions essay can help you stand out from other applicants with similar profiles.

In general, for your college application you will need to submit all of the following:

• Your personal information
• List of extracurriculars and awards
• College application essays
• Transcripts
• Standardized test scores
• Recommendation letters.

Different colleges may have specific requirements, so make sure you check exactly what’s expected in the application guidance.

You should start thinking about your college applications the summer before your junior year to give you sufficient time for college visits, taking standardized tests, applying for financial aid , writing essays, and collecting application material.

Yes, but make sure your essay directly addresses the prompt, respects the word count , and demonstrates the organization’s values.

If you plan ahead, you can save time by writing one scholarship essay for multiple prompts with similar questions. In a scholarship tracker spreadsheet, you can group or color-code overlapping essay prompts; then, write a single essay for multiple scholarships. Sometimes, you can even reuse or adapt your main college essay .

You can start applying for scholarships as early as your junior year. Continue applying throughout your senior year.

Invest time in applying for various scholarships , especially local ones with small dollar amounts, which are likely easier to win and more reflective of your background and interests. It will be easier for you to write an authentic and compelling essay if the scholarship topic is meaningful to you.

You can find scholarships through your school counselor, community network, or an internet search.

A scholarship essay requires you to demonstrate your values and qualities while answering the prompt’s specific question.

After researching the scholarship organization, identify a personal experience that embodies its values and exemplifies how you will be a successful student.

A standout college essay has several key ingredients:

• A unique, personally meaningful topic
• A memorable introduction with vivid imagery or an intriguing hook
• Specific stories and language that show instead of telling
• Vulnerability that’s authentic but not aimed at soliciting sympathy
• Clear writing in an appropriate style and tone
• A conclusion that offers deep insight or a creative ending

While timelines will differ depending on the student, plan on spending at least 1–3 weeks brainstorming and writing the first draft of your college admissions essay , and at least 2–4 weeks revising across multiple drafts. Don’t forget to save enough time for breaks between each writing and editing stage.

You should already begin thinking about your essay the summer before your senior year so that you have plenty of time to try out different topics and get feedback on what works.

Your college essay accounts for about 25% of your application’s weight. It may be the deciding factor in whether you’re accepted, especially for competitive schools where most applicants have exceptional grades, test scores, and extracurricular track records.

In most cases, quoting other people isn’t a good way to start your college essay . Admissions officers want to hear your thoughts about yourself, and quotes often don’t achieve that. Unless a quote truly adds something important to your essay that it otherwise wouldn’t have, you probably shouldn’t include it.

Cliché openers in a college essay introduction are usually general and applicable to many students and situations. Most successful introductions are specific: they only work for the unique essay that follows.

The key to a strong college essay introduction is not to give too much away. Try to start with a surprising statement or image that raises questions and compels the reader to find out more.

The introduction of your college essay is the first thing admissions officers will read and therefore your most important opportunity to stand out. An excellent introduction will keep admissions officers reading, allowing you to tell them what you want them to know.

You can speed up this process by shortening and smoothing your writing with a paraphrasing tool . After that, you can use the summarizer to shorten it even more.

If you’re struggling to reach the word count for your college essay, add vivid personal stories or share your feelings and insight to give your essay more depth and authenticity.

Most college application portals specify a word count range for your essay, and you should stay within 10% of the upper limit to write a developed and thoughtful essay.

You should aim to stay under the specified word count limit to show you can follow directions and write concisely. However, don’t write too little, as it may seem like you are unwilling or unable to write a detailed and insightful narrative about yourself.

If no word count is specified, we advise keeping your essay between 400 and 600 words.

In your application essay , admissions officers are looking for particular features : they want to see context on your background, positive traits that you could bring to campus, and examples of you demonstrating those qualities.

Colleges want to be able to differentiate students who seem similar on paper. In the college application essay , they’re looking for a way to understand each applicant’s unique personality and experiences.

You don’t need a title for your college admissions essay , but you can include one if you think it adds something important.

Your college essay’s format should be as simple as possible:

• Use a standard, readable font
• Use 1.5 or double spacing
• If attaching a file, save it as a PDF
• Stick to the word count
• Avoid unusual formatting and unnecessary decorative touches

There are no set rules for how to structure a college application essay , but these are two common structures that work:

• A montage structure, a series of vignettes with a common theme.
• A narrative structure, a single story that shows your personal growth or how you overcame a challenge.

Avoid the five-paragraph essay structure that you learned in high school.

Campus visits are always helpful, but if you can’t make it in person, the college website will have plenty of information for you to explore. You should look through the course catalog and even reach out to current faculty with any questions about the school.

Colleges set a “Why this college?” essay because they want to see that you’ve done your research. You must prove that you know what makes the school unique and can connect that to your own personal goals and academic interests.

Depending on your writing, you may go through several rounds of revision . Make sure to put aside your essay for a little while after each editing stage to return with a fresh perspective.

Teachers and guidance counselors can help you check your language, tone, and content . Ask for their help at least one to two months before the submission deadline, as many other students will also want their help.

Friends and family are a good resource to check for authenticity. It’s best to seek help from family members with a strong writing or English educational background, or from older siblings and cousins who have been through the college admissions process.

If possible, get help from an essay coach or editor ; they’ll have specialized knowledge of college admissions essays and be able to give objective expert feedback.

When revising your college essay , first check for big-picture issues regarding message, flow, tone, style , and clarity. Then, focus on eliminating grammar and punctuation errors.

Include specific, personal details and use your authentic voice to shed a new perspective on a common human experience.

Through specific stories, you can weave your achievements and qualities into your essay so that it doesn’t seem like you’re bragging from a resume.

When writing about yourself , including difficult experiences or failures can be a great way to show vulnerability and authenticity, but be careful not to overshare, and focus on showing how you matured from the experience.

First, spend time reflecting on your core values and character . You can start with these questions:

• What are three words your friends or family would use to describe you, and why would they choose them?
• Whom do you admire most and why?
• What are you most proud of? Ashamed of?

However, you should do a comprehensive brainstorming session to fully understand your values. Also consider how your values and goals match your prospective university’s program and culture. Then, brainstorm stories that illustrate the fit between the two.

In a college application essay , you can occasionally bend grammatical rules if doing so adds value to the storytelling process and the essay maintains clarity.

However, use standard language rules if your stylistic choices would otherwise distract the reader from your overall narrative or could be easily interpreted as unintentional errors.

Write concisely and use the active voice to maintain a quick pace throughout your essay and make sure it’s the right length . Avoid adding definitions unless they provide necessary explanation.

Use first-person “I” statements to speak from your perspective . Use appropriate word choices that show off your vocabulary but don’t sound like you used a thesaurus. Avoid using idioms or cliché expressions by rewriting them in a creative, original way.

If you’re an international student applying to a US college and you’re comfortable using American idioms or cultural references , you can. But instead of potentially using them incorrectly, don’t be afraid to write in detail about yourself within your own culture.

Provide context for any words, customs, or places that an American admissions officer might be unfamiliar with.

College application essays are less formal than other kinds of academic writing . Use a conversational yet respectful tone , as if speaking with a teacher or mentor. Be vulnerable about your feelings, thoughts, and experiences to connect with the reader.

Aim to write in your authentic voice , with a style that sounds natural and genuine. You can be creative with your word choice, but don’t use elaborate vocabulary to impress admissions officers.

Admissions officers use college admissions essays to evaluate your character, writing skills , and ability to self-reflect . The essay is your chance to show what you will add to the academic community.

The college essay may be the deciding factor in your application , especially for competitive schools where most applicants have exceptional grades, test scores, and extracurriculars.

Some colleges also require supplemental essays about specific topics, such as why you chose that specific college . Scholarship essays are often required to obtain financial aid .

Ask our team

Want to contact us directly? No problem.  We  are always here for you.

• Email [email protected]
• Start live chat
• Call +1 (510) 822-8066
• WhatsApp +31 20 261 6040

Our team helps students graduate by offering:

• A world-class citation generator
• Plagiarism Checker software powered by Turnitin
• Innovative Citation Checker software
• Professional proofreading services
• Over 300 helpful articles about academic writing, citing sources, plagiarism, and more

Scribbr specializes in editing study-related documents . We proofread:

• PhD dissertations
• Research proposals
• Personal statements
• Admission essays
• Motivation letters
• Reflection papers
• Journal articles
• Capstone projects

Scribbr’s Plagiarism Checker is powered by elements of Turnitin’s Similarity Checker , namely the plagiarism detection software and the Internet Archive and Premium Scholarly Publications content databases .

The add-on AI detector is powered by Scribbr’s proprietary software.

The Scribbr Citation Generator is developed using the open-source Citation Style Language (CSL) project and Frank Bennett’s citeproc-js . It’s the same technology used by dozens of other popular citation tools, including Mendeley and Zotero.

You can find all the citation styles and locales used in the Scribbr Citation Generator in our publicly accessible repository on Github .

• Skip to primary navigation
• Skip to main content

Baruch College Writing Center

Tense Use in Literary Response Essays

This guide highlights verb tense in writing about literature.

It can be difficult to decide when to use the past and present tenses in any academic paper, but especially when writing about fiction. It is common practice to use the literary present when relating events from a story, novel, play, or movie, which means describing plot in the present tense ( “Frankenstein creates the monster . . “) even if the writer relayed the events in the past.

Sometimes, though, you need to shift between tenses. In the following excerpt from an essay on Max Frisch’s play, The Arsonists , notice the shifts in tense. While the writer consistently uses the present tense in her essay, she is required to switch to the past tense for specific purposes.

Max Frisch’s 1958 play, The Arsonists , serves as a parable for the bourgeoisie’s abstentious role during Hitler’s rise to power. In fact, the play is commonly considered a criticism of the middle class’s passivity in stopping the spread of Nazi ideology. The protagonist, Gottlieb Biedermann, lets two arsonists, Schmitz and Eisenring, enter his home and bring barrels of gasoline into his attic. Despite clear warning signs, Biedermann denies the potential danger in order to maintain his public image as a do-gooder, allowing the two beggars to sleep under his roof. By the end, he is convinced that they are not arsonists and even supplies them with matches, thus bringing about the destruction of the city. Biedermann represents all of German society, which did not actively try to stop the Nazis despite citizens’ knowledge of the Holocaust’s atrocities. But this play can be applied to a broader scope of social issues. Although it easily translates to Nazi Germany, its message depends on the audience’s personal interpretation, as Frisch leaves its morality open-ended.

← The present tense is used to describe a common interpretation of the work.

← The present tense is used to provide a plot summary .

← The writer switches briefly to simple past to describe a historical event .

← The writer switches back to present tense for the thesis statement , her own interpretation of the work.

Frisch subscribed to Bertolt Brecht’s theories, which pushed him to address historical issues. The older dramatist introduced a new form of theater, called epic theater, which rejected dramatic theater’s cathartic values for a more critical approach. Before, theater had been meant to allow the audience to identify personally with the characters, but for Brecht and Frisch, plays were supposed to engage the audience not emotionally but rationally (Brecht, 71). Thus, when Frisch wrote The Arsonists , he intended it as a representation of a historical moment, meant to heighten its audience’s awareness.

← In this paragraph, the writer uses past tenses to provide background information about the work. She describes the literary movement that influenced the author, as well as the author’s intentions when he wrote the play .

In The Arsonists , the chorus of firemen that intervenes between scenes brings up the main moral criticism in the play: Biedermann’s passiveness in stopping the arsonists. Frisch frames the issue as a choice between reason and fate. On the one hand, “Reason can save us from evil” (Frisch, 3). On the other hand, “Fate means we don’t need to ask / Why the city is burning / No need to ask how the terror began” (3). By accepting fate, Biedermann lets himself be transported by the events and ultimately allows for destruction. When the leader of the chorus confronts Biedermann by asking “What were you thinking?” the protagonist responds , “Thinking? … I have the right not to think at all” (42). Biedermann thus refuses to use reason, as it is easier to accept fate than to risk being blamed for inhumanity towards Schmitz and Eisenring. The chorus concludes the play by denouncing this choice: “Stupidity dressed up as fate, / Always stupidity / Blazing and burning / Until it can not be put out” (80). The chorus guides the audience towards a critique of Biedermann and blames him for not having used reason to understand what was happening in his house and to stop the arsonists.

← The writer switches back to present tense for further plot description and to provide evidence for her claims.

← Past tenses can sometimes be used during plot summary. The writer uses past forms here to show that these events happened before the main events of the narration, in this case before the chorus blames Biedermann for his actions

Summer Hours of Operation

In-person office hours: Monday-Thursday: 10AM-5PM

In-person sessions available: Mondays, 10AM-3PM

Online sessions available: Monday-Thursday: 10AM-7PM

• Have your assignments done by seasoned writers. 24/7
• Contact us:
• +1 (213) 221-0069
• [email protected]

Past, Present, and Future Tense in Essays: How to Switch

Past, Present, and the Future Tenses in Your Essay

Choosing the correct grammatical tense for your essay can be a challenge. You have to decide whether to use past, present, or future tense. A wrong choice impacts your essay negatively. It will lack clarity and flow. This is not a situation that you ought to find yourself in.

Most students struggle with choosing the right tense. For some, it is due to the lack of guidance on using grammatical tenses. Others are careless with their writing. The result is a poorly written essay that a reader cannot understand. However, it is a problem that you can deal with once and for all.

Reading the instructions will enlighten you on which tense to use in writing your essay. Your tutor can also guide you on how to use grammatical tenses. You get the guidelines of when to use a particular tense. The help prevents you from choosing the wrong tense.

The type of your essay also reveals which tenses you ought to use. All essays are not the same. They have some distinct rules that create a significant difference. You must be aware of those rules and follow them to the latter. For instance, using the right tense is something you must take seriously. 

People Also Read: A Guide for Buying a College Essay: Without Being Caught

Should an Essay be in Present, Past, or Future Tense?

Many students might find it challenging to choose the right tense. Some are yet to learn by heart the rules governing the use of tenses. They end up making the wrong choice.

Ultimately, the impact of their essay score is negative. Fortunately, it is a problem you can work on. 

Every essay needs to be clear and engaging, where the reader needs an easier time reading it. But, that is not the case with all students. Some find themselves using the wrong tenses.

Instead of using the present tense, they write essays in the past tense. But perhaps they do not know when to use a present, past, or future tense.

You can use present, past, and future tense in your essay. But there is a catch. Before you write your essay, you must know which tense fits it. You can either get guidance from your tutor or do your research. Above all, ensure the tense you use is consistent and clear.

Most essay writers use the present tense. It is simple and direct to the point. You can write short sentences that are easier to read and understand. The reader will use little time to read your essay. It will not be tiring to read it since the message is clear.

The present tense is common in academic writing. It allows you to write about current states of events more candidly. By using the present tense, you can easily describe theories. It will be easier to explain an event that is happening now. Generally, the present tense is ideal for writing essays.

People Also Read: How to Write an Email to a University: Admission or Information

Instances to Use Present Tense in an Essay

You do not have to write every essay in the present tense. There are instances under which it becomes a must. At that juncture, you have to play ball.

You must shun the past and future tenses to make your essay consistent. Deviating from the present tense might distort your sentence structure thereby complicating your essay.

The present tense is ideal for creating a sense of immediacy. The reader gets to experience every action as it unfolds. It is easier to grasp the information the writer is passing across. The clarity in the essay engages the reader .

This is one of the reasons why writing in the present tense is common.

Writing an essay in the present tense is much easier. You can write your essay within the shortest time possible, and meeting deadlines will not be an issue. Your essay will be simple and clear to the point, without any sophistication.

Use present tense in an essay where you refer to existing facts. The present tense shows that the fact is indeed true. It becomes easier for the reader to believe in what you are writing. Also, it describes the findings of a study in the present tense. That is also the case when expressing people’s claims and opinions .

Instances to Use Past Tense in an Essay

You must be careful with the tense you use in your essay. Each tense does come with its demands. For instance, past tense is ideal for emphasizing that people do not accept a particular idea. Use past tense to describe that idea for easier understanding.

If your essay describes historical events, you have to use past tense. It makes the description clearer to the reader. This is a clear indication that they can get a picture of the turn of events. This is very crucial for the flow of your essay.

Reading it becomes engaging and enjoyable without any sense of struggling to understand ideas.

People Also Read: Thesis Defense Steps: Full Guide How to Prepare and Present

Instances to Use Future Tense in an Essay

Not often do students use the future tense in essays. They either use present and past tenses, the former being the most common.

But some instances permit the use of future tense. It does play a significant role.

Use future tense to describe your essay’s research predictions, methods, and aims. It becomes easier to demystify what the researcher is up to.

Besides, if you recommend research sources or state the application of study findings, then use future tense. You can easily describe something that is yet to happen or likely to occur in the future.

Can You Combine All Tenses in Essay Writing?

You can also use all tenses in your essay. However, you need to take this step with a lot of caution. Remember, the reader needs to get your message. You have to do that with some pomp to make your essay an enticing read .

Combining all tenses will certainly do that job for you.

Describe the cause and impact of interlocking events in an essay by combining all tenses. Your target audience can now get the hang of the events from a much broader perceptive. However, you have to respect time settings.

It is crucial to avoid any confusion that might distort your message. Ensure you get rid of any sophistication bound to disturb the flow of thoughts in your write-up.

Combining all tenses can be a win or a loss for you. It depends on the context of your essay. Besides, you need to mind your reader.

Your essay should be on a standard that is easier to comprehend. Thus, proceed with caution. 

Make your point in a manner that captures the reader’s attention. Using all tenses can help you achieve that feat. However, the tenses should not appear haphazardly. If you are not careful, you might make it hard for your reader to understand your insinuating description.

People Also Read: Can Literature Reviews Be Published: Can I Publish on my Own

Choosing the right tense for your essay is fundamental. It ensures that you can engage your reader in a comprehensive context easily. It starts by knowing when to use present, past, and future tense or combine them.

If your essay is about current events, it must be in the present tense. The reader gets to know what is happening at the very moment.

Use past tense to write an essay on past events. Describing those events will be much easier. You will do it with clarity hence not causing any confusion. On the other side, the future tense suits the description of events yet to occur.

You can also use the future tense to predict events that are about to happen. And if you want to polish your essay, care to combine all tenses, but do it with caution.

Watch this video to learn more about this.

When not handling complex essays and academic writing tasks, Josh is busy advising students on how to pass assignments. In spare time, he loves playing football or walking with his dog around the park.

Related posts

Titles for Essay about Yourself

Good Titles for Essays about yourself: 31 Personal Essay Topics

How to Write a Diagnostic Essay

How to Write a Diagnostic Essay: Meaning and Topics Example

How Scantron Detects Cheating

Scantron Cheating: How it Detects Cheating and Tricks Students Use

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Tense of Literary Essay

When writing a literary essay in English what tense should be used:

Past as in:

Gatsby’s parties were ostentatious and exquisite

Or present as in:

Gatsby’s parties are ostentatious and exquisite

Another example:

His house is a ‘colossal affair.’

As opposed to:

His house was a ‘colossal affair.’

• 3 From what I remember, such essays are written in the past tense (your first example). –  FrustratedWithFormsDesigner Commented Aug 29, 2011 at 18:52
• 1 Especially if Gatsby's parties occurred in the past... –  Daniel Commented Aug 29, 2011 at 18:57
• @drɱ65 δ Okay that example wasn't too great because It was definitely the past. Please refer to my added example. –  Proffesor In English Commented Aug 29, 2011 at 18:59

2 Answers 2

If your essay is analytical (and I'm struggling to think of any other reason you'd write an essay about The Great Gatsby ) then I'd put it in the present tense.

Gatsby loves Daisy, but Daisy is married to Tom. Gatsby doesn't have the bloodline to impress her; all he has is money. So he throws lavish affairs at his ostentatious house in a effort to show her how riche he is, and only comes off looking painfully nouveau.

Even though the book is in past tense, as you read it you are in the book's "present," so you are in the action. When you're analyzing it, you're analyzing what occurs. You'd use past tense if you were talking about something which happened in the character's past:

Jane Eyre is hired by Mr. Rochester as a governness. When he asks her if she can play the piano, she modestly replies, "A little," and proceeds to reel out some Chopin. She learned the piece when she was a child, when she lived at Lowood. Mr. Rochester snorts at how English girls are brought up to downplay their achievements.

I'd suggest past tense but with a caveat- if the essay is for a specific publication, audience, or purpose that should be the guide as to what tense to use. Of course make sure the same tense is used throughout.

Your Answer

Reminder: Answers generated by artificial intelligence tools are not allowed on Writing Stack Exchange. Learn more

Sign up or log in

Post as a guest.

Required, but never shown

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge you have read our privacy policy .

• Featured on Meta
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Hot Network Questions

• When labeling, "Wrap on character" drops the wrap character
• Is a sixteenth note quintuplet worth 4 sixteenth notes? If so, why is this wrong?
• Why does memoryless property apply in the first case but not the second?
• Curious interchange of the order of summation
• How to remove package with dependencies in APT?
• Is "natural person" an idiomatic way to describe someone who's the opposite of pretentious?
• Seeking optimization modelling problems involving non-continuous or non-interval defined functions for teaching
• Is this sample LSAT question / answer based in fallacy?
• What is the "LBGT+ Commitment Charter" that Paris 2024 signed back in July 2018?
• What do I do if my professor doesn't give me an extra credit assignment that he promised?
• Routing problem with ethernet cross-over network
• When we say "roll out" a product, do we mean like a carpet or like a car?
• Does a Lunar Cycler make practical sense?
• What reference is Deadpool making in his line, "What is it, girl? Is there trouble at the well?"
• Factoriadic Fraction Addition
• Mars paraterraforming (worldhouse) vs. full terraforming
• Why exactly do we need the learning rate in gradient descent?
• Canola and dishwasher
• How does one go from wavefunctions to fields?
• How can life which cannot live on the surface of a planet naturally reach the supermajority of the planet's caves?
• How to choose correct resistor values when designing a circuit?
• N-MOS failing short on my PCB
• Former manager and team keep reaching out with questions despite transferring to a new team
• In lead sheet does tie also apply to chord?

• [email protected]

Should Essays be in Present Tense?

Grammatical tenses are important in all types of writing, but we’ll concentrate on their application in academic writing. I will explain whether you should use present tense in essays or not.

No, essays should not always be in present tense. Although more than a third of college and school essays are written in present tense, past tense is often needed when referring to other authors’ ideas. Simple present tense is used when presenting you own views.

Tense consistency is what matters.

College and school essays are typically written in the simple past tense or past perfect tense.

However, because it is more concise, it is preferable to use simple past tense. More importantly, rather than bouncing between two or three tenses throughout the essay, it is recommended that you stay to one throughout. So, rather of moving between past and present or past and future, if you start in simple past tense, you must use it throughout the essay.

Also, while presenting your own thoughts, you should use simple present tense, and when quoting someone else’s perspective, you should use simple past tense.

What Tense Should I Use in Writing?

In general, present tense should be used when writing most essays, with past tense used when referring to past events or an author’s ideas. The narrative essay is one big exception to these norms, as the writer can use either past or present tense, but the work should be tense consistent throughout.

Most essays you write in high school and later will need you to analyze some aspect of literature.

• As an example, your teacher may ask you to explain how the word choice used by the author contributes to the tone of a poem or analyze the main theme of a particular piece of literature.
• You should employ what is known as the “literary present” in these essays. This indicates that you write about the tale in the present tense, even though the story may be written in the past tense.

There are, however, a few exceptions to this way of writing. (After all, it is English, and every rule seems to have an exception, right?) If you’re writing about anything that happened before the story’s plot started (like Scout’s mother’s death in To Kill a Mockingbird), you’ll use the past tense.

You’ll also need to use past tense verbs for clarity. “Scout realizes that Boo had shielded her from Bob Ewell,” you might write. “Scout realizes that Boo shields her from Bob Ewell,” for example, would be confusing and untrue.

Historical writings, on the other hand, are a different matter. Most authors use the past tense to discuss completed occurrences since they are describing real happenings.

As an example, you may write, “ Henry VIII gave fierce orders Queen Anne’s beheading in an attempt to create an heir .” History has come to an end.

Changing the verb to “gives” would be odd and imply that anything hasn’t happened yet.

If in doubt, use literary present tense—or contact your instructor. And, regardless of the tense you use, make sure you stick to it throughout your entire paper.

The main rule for all essays, as well as any other sort of writing, is to choose a tense and stick to it. Writing in one tense and changing tenses merely to imply a movement in time or perhaps some dramatic purpose is one of the most aggravating things for a reader to endure.

The Past Tense in Academic Writing

You could employ the past tense in an academic paper to illustrate that a viewpoint is no longer commonly accepted. For example, the past tense “claimed” and “has since been disputed” both indicate that the study is no longer valid:

• Cook and Moore (1964) argued that profane language is funny, however many specialists have since refuted this assertion.

When explaining the methodology used in a previously conducted experiment, the past tense is also widely used in academic writing:

• Two hundred samples were tested using unique approaches.

However, some institutions have specific guidelines for how a methodology chapter should be written, so check your style guide for tense usage requirements.

The Present Tense in Academic Writing

Because it is reasonable when writing about current happenings or states of being, the present tense is prominent in most forms of academic work. Some of the applications include: 

• Known facts and theories (for example, “Profane language is unusual but common among young people…”)
• A study’s findings (for instance, “The findings show that…”)
• Other people’s ideas or claims (for instance, “Cook and Moore argue that…”)

Even when presenting a study that took place in the past, the present tense is normally correct as long as the conclusions are still applicable today.

The Future Tense in Academic Writing

Although the future tense is less popular in academic writing, it nevertheless serves a few crucial functions. One is in research proposals, where you’ll need to discuss your study goals, predictions concerning results, and methods:

One is in research proposals, where you’ll need to discuss your study goals, predictions concerning results, and methods:

• This study will explore the role of profane language in humor. We anticipate that the majority of respondents will find vulgar language amusing.

When advocating new research lines or discussing how the findings of a study could be implemented, the future tense also becomes meaningful:

• Further research into the rising usage of profane language in everyday life, according to our findings, should be carried out.

The most important thing to remember is that the future tense is used to describe something that hasn’t transpired yet or is projected to happen in the future.

How to use tenses in an Essay

The Purdue Online Writing Lab is a fantastic resource for all types of grammar and writing problems, and these are their specific recommendations:

• Use the past tense to describe events and to refer to an author’s ideas as historical events (for example, biographical material about a historical figure or a timeline of changes in an author’s thoughts).
• Use the present tense to convey facts, allude to ongoing or routine actions, and discuss your own thoughts or those expressed by an author in a specific work.
• Use the present tense to describe action in a novel, film, or other fictional story. You could want to tell an incident in the present tense, as if it were happening right now, for dramatic impact. If you do, stick to the present tense throughout the story, changing it only when necessary.
• Future action can be indicated in a number of ways, including the usage of will, shall, is about to, are about to, tomorrow, and other temporal adverbs, as well as a variety of contextual indicators.

• Link to facebook
• Link to linkedin
• Link to twitter
• Link to youtube
• Writing Tips

Should You Use Past or Present Tense When Citing Researchers’ Work?

• 2-minute read
• 18th July 2022

There’s a lot that researchers have to think about when writing papers.

Not only do you have to actually write the paper, research intensely, and structure your argument well, the details of how you should present your writing can take up a lot of time and brain power.

One of those nitpicky details is presenting the work of other researchers. Should you use the past or present tense? Luckily, unlike many other aspects of academic writing, the answer to this question is simple.

With every major style guide for academic writing (e.g., MLA , Chicago , AP ) except one, you should use the present tense when you’re citing researchers’ work in your papers.

Appleby (2005) claims that around 40% of birds can migrate.

The exception to the rule is the APA style guide. If your school follows the APA style guide, you can use either the past or present tense when citing the work of researchers. It’s your choice.

So, in short, if you stick to the present tense, you won’t go wrong. However, if you want to use the past tense, make sure your school accepts the APA style guide.

Find this useful?

Subscribe to our newsletter and get writing tips from our editors straight to your inbox.

Appleby (2005) claimed that around 40% of birds could migrate.

We know how important it is to get every paper perfect. Proofed is a research paper proofreading and editing service that helps researchers get their papers right every single time.

With a team of expert editors dedicated to your project, Proofed will check and edit your work for any issues with spelling, grammar, tone, accuracy, formatting, clarity, and more.

Choosing Proofed means that your research papers will be clear, accurate, and easy for your readers to digest, helping you hit those all-important top marks.

Get 500 words proofed and edited by Proofed free of charge today!

Share this article:

Post A New Comment

Got content that needs a quick turnaround? Let us polish your work. Explore our editorial business services.

6-minute read

How to Write a Nonprofit Grant Proposal

If you’re seeking funding to support your charitable endeavors as a nonprofit organization, you’ll need...

9-minute read

How to Use Infographics to Boost Your Presentation

Is your content getting noticed? Capturing and maintaining an audience’s attention is a challenge when...

8-minute read

Why Interactive PDFs Are Better for Engagement

Are you looking to enhance engagement and captivate your audience through your professional documents? Interactive...

7-minute read

Seven Key Strategies for Voice Search Optimization

Voice search optimization is rapidly shaping the digital landscape, requiring content professionals to adapt their...

4-minute read

Five Creative Ways to Showcase Your Digital Portfolio

Are you a creative freelancer looking to make a lasting impression on potential clients or...

How to Ace Slack Messaging for Contractors and Freelancers

Effective professional communication is an important skill for contractors and freelancers navigating remote work environments....

Make sure your writing is the best it can be with our expert English proofreading and editing.

Past vs. Present Tense: Choose the RIGHT Tense for Your Novel

by Joe Bunting | 75 comments

One of the first decisions you have to make when you're writing a novel or short story is which tense to use. There are only two viable options: past vs. present tense.*

Which tense should you choose for your novel?

*Future tense is certainly technically possible, but it's used so rarely in fiction we're going to skip it here.

What's the Difference Between Present and Past Tense?

In fiction, a story written in past tense is about events that happened in the past. For example:

From the safety of his pickup truck, John watched as his beloved house burned to the ground. With a blank face, he drove away.

Present tense, on the other hand, sets the narration directly into the moment of the events:

From the safety of his pickup truck, John watches as his beloved house burns to the ground. With a blank face, he drives away.

This is a short example, but what do you think? How are they different? Which version do you prefer?

Choose Between Past and Present Tense BEFORE You Start Writing Your Novel

New writers are notorious for switching back and forth between past and present tense within their books. It's one of the most common mistakes people make when they are writing fiction for the first time.

On top of that, I often talk to writers who are halfway finished with their first drafts, or even all the way finished, and are now questioning which tense they should be using.

Unfortunately, the more you've written of your novel, the harder it is to change tenses, and if you do end up deciding to change tenses, it can take many hours of hard work to correct the shift.

That's why it's so important to choose between past and present tense before you start writing your novel.

With that in mind, make sure to save this guide, so you can have it as a resource when you begin your next novel.

Both Past Tense and Present Tense Are Fine

When making your tense choice, past tense is by far the most common tense, whether you're writing a fictional novel or a nonfiction newspaper article. If you can't decide which tense you should use in your novel, you should probably write it in past tense.

There are many reasons past tense is the standard for novels. One main reason is simply that it's the convention. Reading stories in past tense is so normal that reading present tense narratives can feel jarring and annoying to many readers. Some readers, in fact, won't read past the few pages if your book is in present tense.

That being said, from a technical perspective, present tense is perfectly acceptable. There's nothing wrong with it, even if it does annoy some readers. It has been used in fiction for hundreds of years, and there's no reason you can't use it if you want to.

Keep in mind, there are drawbacks though.

The Hunger Games and Other Examples of Present Tense Novels

I was talking with a writer friend today who used to have strong feelings against present tense. If she saw the author using it in the first paragraph of a novel, she would often put the book back on the bookstore shelf.

Then, she read The Hunger Games , one of the most popular recent examples of a present tense novel (along with All the Light We Cannot See ), and when she realized well into the book that the novel was in present tense, all those negative opinions about it were turned on their heads.

Many of the biggest present-tense opponents (like Philip Pullman ) use caveats like this. Some of them even blame The Hunger Games for later, less well-written present tense novels. “ Hunger Games was fine,” they say, “but now every other novel is in present tense.”

However, the reality is that it has a long tradition. Here are a several notable examples of present tense novels:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens

Rabbit, Run by John Updike

Rabbit, Run is sometimes praised for being the first book to be written entirely in present tense. But while it may have been the first prominent American novel in present tense, it was hardly the first in the world.

Ulysses by James Joyce

All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque

Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Like several of Chuck's novels, Fight Club , published in 1999, is written in present tense .

Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney

Bright Lights, Big City is notable both for being written in present tense and second-person . While it's not necessarily something you should use as an example in your own writing, it is an interesting case.

Other Notable Novels

Here are several other notable present tense novels

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr
• Bird Box: A Novel by Josh Malerman (I'm reading this right now, and it's great!)
• The White Queen by Philippa Gregory (the basis for the BBC TV Series)
• Cat's Eye by Margaret Atwood
• Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger

There are dozens of other notable and bestselling novels written in present tense. However, comic books are another example of popular present-tense writing, which use dialogue bubbles and descriptions almost universally in present tense.

5 Advantages of Present Tense

Present tense, like past tense, has its benefits and drawbacks. Here are five reasons why you might choose to use it in your writing:

1. Present Tense Feels Like a Movie

One reason authors have used present tense more often in the last century is that it feels most film-like.

Perhaps writers think they can get their book adapted into a movie easier if they use present tense, or perhaps they just want to mimic the action and suspense found in film, but whether film is the inspiration or the goal, its increasing use owes much to film.

John Updike himself credits film for his use of present tense, as he said in his interview with the Paris Review :

Rabbit, Run was subtitled originally, ‘A Movie.' The present tense was in part meant to be an equivalent of the cinematic mode of narration…. This doesn’t mean, though, that I really wanted to write for the movies. It meant I wanted to make a movie. I could come closer by writing it in my own book than by attempting to get through to Hollywood.

Christopher Bram, author of Father of Frankenstein , says much the same , “I realized I was using it because it’s the tense of screenplays.”

2. Present Tense Intensifies the Emotions

Present tense gives the reader a feeling like, “We are all in this together.” Since the reader knows only as much as the narrator does, it can draw the reader more deeply into the suspense of the story, heightening the emotion.

3. Present Tense Works Well With Deep Point of View

Deep point of view, or deep POV, is a style of narrative popular right now in which the third person point of view is deeply embedded into the consciousness of the character.

Deep POV is like first person narrative, and has a similar level of closeness, but it's written in third person. By some counts, deep POV accounts for fifty percent of adult novels and seventy percent of YA novels.

Present tense pairs especially well with a deep point of view because both serve to bring the narrative closer to the reader.

4. Present Tense Works Best In Short-Time-Frame Stories With Constant Action

Present tense works well in stories told in a very short time frame—twenty-four hours, for example—because everything is told in real time, and it's difficult to make too many transitions and jumps in time.

5. Present Tense Lends Itself Well To Unreliable Narrators

Since the narrative is so close to the action in present tense stories, it lends well to unreliable narrators. An unreliable narrator is a narrator who tells a story incorrectly or leaves out key details. It's a fun technique because the reader naturally develops a closeness with the narrator, so when you find out they're secretly a monster, for example, it creates a big dramatic reversal.

Since present tense draws you even closer to the narrator, it makes that reversal even more dramatic.

5 Drawbacks of Present Tense

As useful as present tense can be in the right situation, there are reasons to avoid it. Here are five reasons to choose past tense over present tense:

1. Some Readers Hate Present Tense

The main reason to avoid present tense, in my opinion, is that some people hate it. Philip Pullman , the bestselling author of the Golden Compass series, says:

What I dislike about the present-tense narrative is its limited range of expressiveness. I feel claustrophobic, always pressed up against the immediate.

Writer beware: right or wrong, if you write in present tense, some people will throw your book down in disgust. Past tense is a much safer choice.

2. Present Tense Less Flexible, Time Shifts Can Be Awkward

The disadvantage of present tense is that since you're so focused on into events as they happen, it can be hard to disengage from the ever-pressing moment and shift to events in the future or past.

Pullman continues :

I want all the young present-tense storytellers (the old ones have won prizes and are incorrigible) to allow themselves to stand back and show me a wider temporal perspective. I want them to feel able to say what happened, what usually happened, what sometimes happened, what had happened before something else happened, what might happen later, what actually did happen later, and so on: to use the full range of English tenses.

Since you're locked into the present, you're limited in your ability to move through time freely. For more flexibility when it comes to navigating time, choose past tense.

3. Present Tense Harder to Pull Off

Since present tense is so much less flexible that past tense, it's much more difficult to use it well. As Editorial Ass. says:

Let me say that present tense is not a reason I categorically reject a novel submission. But it often becomes a contributing reason, because successful present tense novel writing is much, much more difficult to execute than past tense novel writing. Most writers, no matter how good they are, are not quite up to the task.

Elizabeth McCraken continues this theme:

I think a lot of writers choose the present tense as a form of cowardice. They think the present tense is really entirely about the present moment, as though the past and future do not actually exist. But a good present tense is really about texture, not time, and should be as rich and complicated and full of possibilities as the past tense. They too often choose the present tense because they think they can avoid thinking about time, when really it’s all about time.

If you're new to writing fiction, or if you're looking for an easier tense to manage, choose past tense.

4. No or Little Narration

While present tense does indeed mimic film, that can be more of a disadvantage than an advantage. Writers have many more narrative tricks available to them than filmmakers. Writers can enter the heads of their characters, jump freely through time, speak directly to the reader, and more. However, present tense removes many of those options out of your bag of tricks. As Emma Darwin says:

The thing is, though, that film can't narrate: it can only build narrative by a sequence of in-the-present images of action.

To get the widest range of options in your narrative, use past tense.

5. Present Tense Is More Limited

As Writer's Digest says, with present tense you only have access to four verb tenses, simple present, present progressing, simple future, and occasionally simple past. However, with past tense, you have access to all twelve verb tenses English contains.

In other words, you limit yourself to one-third of your choices if you use present tense.

How to Combine Present and Past Tense Correctly

While you should be very careful about switching tenses within the narrative, there is one situation in which present tense can be combined within a novel:

Breaking the Fourth Wall is a term from theater that describes when an actor or actors address the audience directly. A good example of this is from Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream :

If we shadows have offended, Think but this, and all is mended, That you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear. … So, good night unto you all. Give me your hands, if we be friends, And Robin shall restore amends.

As with theater, novels have broken the fourth wall for hundreds of years, addressing the reader directly and doing so in present tense .

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie

A great example of breaking the wall is from Midnight's Children , the Best of the Bookers winning novel by Salman Rushdie, in which Saleem narrates from the present tense, speaking directly to the reader, but describes events that happened in the past, sometimes more than a hundred years before.

I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I'm gone which would not have happened if I had not come. ― Salman Rushdie, Midnight's Children

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

Dickens' novel, A Tale of Two Cities , also uses this technique of breaking the fourth wall and addressing the reader directly. Here's a quote from the novel:

A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!

Which Tense is Right For Your Book, Past Tense or Present Tense?

As you can see present tense has its advantages and disadvantages.

If you're writing a film-like, deep POV novel with an unreliable narrator in which the story takes place in just few days, present tense could be a perfect choice.

On the other hand, if your story takes place over several years, follows many point of view characters, and places a greater emphasis on narration, past tense is almost certainly your best bet.

Whatever you do, though, DON'T change tenses within your novel (unless you're breaking the fourth wall).

How about you? Which tense do you prefer, past or present tense? Why? Let us know in the comments .

Practice writing in both present and past tense.

Write a scene about a young man or woman walking through London. First, spend ten minutes writing your scene in present tense. Then, spend ten minutes rewriting your scene in past tense.

When your time is up, post your practice in both tenses in the Pro Practice Workshop and leave feedback for a few other writers, too.

Joe Bunting

Joe Bunting is an author and the leader of The Write Practice community. He is also the author of the new book Crowdsourcing Paris , a real life adventure story set in France. It was a #1 New Release on Amazon. Follow him on Instagram (@jhbunting).

Want best-seller coaching? Book Joe here.

Work with Joe Bunting?

WSJ Bestselling author, founder of The Write Practice, and book coach with 14+ years experience. Joe Bunting specializes in working with Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Historical Fiction, How To, Literary Fiction, Memoir, Mystery, Nonfiction, Science Fiction, and Self Help books. Sound like a good fit for you?

75 Comments

This is interesting because I’ve found that over the years my natural writing style has shifted from writing in past tense to writing in present tense and I’ve been looking at a piece for a while where I’ve been on the fence about rewriting it in past tense but after reading this I might keep it as is because I have a very unreliable narrator. I’ve found this to be extremely helpful, thanks.

Awesome. Glad you found this helpful, Ashley. Good luck with your piece!

I like present tense narration And trying to write one though scared I’ve been writing poems and prefer first person, hope to do better thank you for sharing your ideas

Very helpful advice. I was wondering about my middle-grade novel. Could I break the fourth wall in it? It would seem a wonderful thing to try.

If by ‘middle-grade’ you mean children’s, I think children’s and young adult fiction is very open to fourth wall smashing!

Though the mass of my fiction is past tense 3rd-person omni, I *do* break the 4th wall sometimes. I just can’t help myself…in a lifetime in music, theatre & dance, I know its power & frankly lust after it in writing. (But one thing those other fields of art taught me was that too much through-the-wall action and loss of control is almost inevitable.) Attempting to remain judicious, I don’t break the wall very often, but sometimes–especially in action scenes–and most especially in action scenes where I’m holding the focus on one out of a number of deeply developed characters, breaking that 4th wall–say, for a mere portion of a single scene–can really do the job!

Great points, Manilamac. We need to do a whole post on the 4th wall, but you’ve said everything I think!

He was not a Londoner or even a British national. He walked the streets of London in January dressed in bright color sleeveless shirt and sandals. People around him who carried umbrellas and wore suits and leather shoes saw him as a strange character who lost his way in the big city.

He is not a Londoner, or even a British national. He walks the streets of London in January wearing wild color sleeveless shirt but acts like he belongs in the big city. People look at him amused by what they see—a young man who needs help.

Past tense gave this a very different feel to present tense.

The present tense gives this a feel that differs markedly from the past.

Agreed! Also, I see what you did there, Davidh. 😉

Hello! I love this blog, but you have mis-cited John Updike’s seminal book Rabbit, Run several times. Can you fix this please?

Thanks Dorryce. What do you mean miscited?

Oh my gosh! How funny. I read that novel and loved it, have read a lot about it, and have thought about it for years, and this whole time I thought it was called Run, Rabbit Run, not Rabbit, Run. It’s amazing how your brain can edit things. Thanks Dorryce. Fixed!

Heheheh- my mind automatically changed it to “Run, Rabbit, Run” too! I think it must have confused it with Forrest Gump… 😮

Glad to hear I’m not the only one!

The term story itself suggests that we write about something that happened in the past.The past tense always fits the bill when you narrate a story of the past.But when you write a how to article, the present tense is always the best and again the content of a how to article definitely is not a story but something that directs somebody to do something.Even Salman Rushdie in his MIdnight Children chose the past tense to narrate his story.Thats what H.G.Wells did in his Time Machine.

I disagree, S. Have you ever told a story to a friend or colleague in present tense? I certainly have! “So I’m walking through the house and it’s pitch dark and then you know what I see… a giant mouse!”

The question is which tense is right for your novel, but not whether you can write a novel in the present tense.In my humble opinion, when you narrate a story of the past, the past tense is most appropriate and when you narrate what is happening now, I mean in the story, the present tense is appropriate.Again, the tense is determined by the content.For example if I write a story of the preindependant era in India, the past tense is a must and more appropriate.

Unfortunately, a long tradition of well respected novelists disagree with you, including Erich Remarch, who wrote about a historical event, WWI, well after the events. It might indeed be more appropriate by some measures to write about historical events, like preindependent India, in the present tense, but that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t be artistically effective and technically possible if done well.

Our mental predilictions should not, of course, will not determine the right tense required for writing a novel, but certainly it is the content or the subject matter that determines it.

Fascinating article, but I do have some reservations.

Firstly, let me quote from your article: “While you should be very careful about switching tenses within the narrative, there is one situation in which present tense can be combined within a novel: Breaking the Fourth Wall is a term from theater that describes when an actor or actors address the audience directly….”

What about occasions in a present tense story in which your characters engage in reminiscences? How else can they do that but shift to the past tense? This is what is meant by ‘past within present’.

Secondly, I have also recently read a piece (written by a colleague) wherein the tense changes from scene-to-scene. One of the characters thinks and acts in the present, working to reform himself. The other character is dominated by resentments and focussed upon the past. This piece worked extremely well and was a great device for conveying the differences between the characters.

In my own work-in-progress, I have my regret-burdened starship Captain protagonist (and the bulk of the narrative) working in the past tense, whilst her living-in-the-moment AI friend operates entirely in the present tense.

I think tense can be made to shift effectively from one to the other, but only if done with great care and purpose.

I do not buy the notion that all tense shifts are Verboten.

Good question, Davidh. Yes, for flashbacks, you can absolutely use past tense. Just keep in mind, your character is still in the present, even if his/her consciousness is elsewhere. So you have to be careful to make sure the recollections he/she is having are natural, not forced by the story. Otherwise, you’re in danger of info dumping.

Regarding tense changes scene-to-scene, there are some novels that do that. Bleak House, which I mentioned, is one example. It’s hard to pull off, and can be jarring to some readers, though—just as switching POV characters can be jarring to some readers. It’s likely that few mass market, bestselling novels will be written this way, but that doesn’t mean it’s not possible!

Agreed! What can’t be done is careless tense shifts within a chapter (apart from flashbacks or asides, as you mention). Good thoughts, Davidh!

In my novel (picked up by Pen Name Publishing), I’ve done a masterful job creating ‘past within present’ while successfully writing a first person account from a drug-addled stream-of-consciousness. In Beyond The Blue Kite, the real world is present tense while the flashback and three dreams are past tense (thus proving shifting tense can work if you have a unique formula).

I disagree the drawback to present tense includes little to no narration. Pay attention to the character subject and it won’t become a flaw. In addition, the protagonist in Beyond The Blue Kite is portrayed as claustrophobic which is why present tense proved perfect in portraying reality.

What I loved about present tense was giving the reader deep suspense towards the end, and heightening the emotion from beginning to end. Interesting note that present tense draws you even closer to the narrator which made my dream sequences more dramatic when switching tense.

If you’re going to try succeed switching tense, practice and practice and then practice more; and be prepared to put in many hours of hard work. It can be challenging to change tense, but I can’t lie and say it’s not possible.

I m an English major hoping to earn a degree in creative writing, I would like to have a copy of your novel; would that be possible. my email [email protected] thank you, love your response.

Just checking for confirmation that Richard did a truly “masterful job” constructing the “past-within-present” tense? Struggling to master it myself and would love to have some confirmation about good models to examine.

http://www.amazon.com/Highways-Teresa-Marie-ebook/dp/B01A766HU8/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1452047950&sr=1-1&keywords=Highways Hello everybody, I was inspired by Joe to finish my suspense thriller during NaNoWriMo 2015 and … tada! Thanks, Joe. I’d really appreciate any reviews or comments as I need the feedback. 🙂 I’m in your writing community too, so I’ll post a link there. All the best. K.

Wow, congratulations K! That’s a huge accomplishment. And now are you working on the next? 🙂

I’ve never tried writing in present tense, an to be honest have always found it distracting. Most of the books I read to my kids are written that way, and (as sad as it may seem) I usually translate to past tense when I read out loud.

Ha! Cheater! Although, I can’t really talk. I sometimes skip pages if the story is really long!

I did it once & I must say I did it successfully (despite many advising against writing this way). But I am currently writing the prequel. And I think there will be a prequel to the prequel. Do they all have to be written in the same tense? What about the POV? My debut novel is mostly in 3rd person POV. Do I need to do the same for all the books in this series? Sherrie

Sherrie Miranda’s historically based, coming of age, Adventure novel “Secrets & Lies in El Salvador” is about an American girl in war-torn El Salvador: http://tinyurl.com/klxbt4y Her husband made a video for her novel. He wrote the song too: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P11Ch5chkAc

Interesting question! Yes, I think it’s best to choose the same tense. Hunger Games is all in the same tense. It’s a bit different, since it’s a prequel, though. I’d definitely recommend keeping the same POV though.

John watches as his beloved house burns to the ground. He watches as flames lick out of the window of his trophy room. Images of his Star Wars figures flash across his mind, he and his nephew battling with the evil Emperor. Before the roof could fall in, he reaches out, turns the key in the ignition. With a blank face, he drives away.

Nice, determined. Where’s the past tense version?

I came, I saw, I conquered. Caesar insisting on his competence to do just that, even before he lands. His (arrogant) self confidence, if you will. An example of thinking positive in the extreme.

Present Walking in the deep, deserted, dark streets of London, where no soul was visible. Quietness was being intruded by coughing of a young man, chugging on his pipe. A lamppost seems to signal him to halt, where he stood leaning against the wall. Timelessly keeping a watch over his watch, waiting for some known or unknown. Every passing shadow lit a light of hope in his eyes, which the street lights also could not hide. Suddenly from nowhere a hand touched his back, making him numb with tears rolling his eyes. Turning seemed difficult for him at this time, even more than moving a rock. The touch & warmth, the breathing by his side was his younger brother, who he thought was not alive….

Past Deep, deserted, dark streets of London, where visibility of any soul was low, had seen a young man chugging on his pipe. His coughing had echoed to the highest point reaching to the deepest point in rebound. Lampposts dancing to the moonlight was left incomplete, due to the presence of this unknown. A bricked wall had lend his shoulder to him, where he ceaselessly kept a count over time. Shadows passed making his expressions grow more intense with time. Lamppost played a role of a spotlight, leading one aching soul to bond with another. A touch on his back was all what he groped, which melted him like an ice. He knew it was his younger brother, who he thought was never alive….

This is so evocative, Diya. I’m not sure “was being” works in the present tense, or “stood.” Should be “Quietness is” and “stands.” There are sever other mistakes in tense. Might be worthwhile to go back through and get clear on them. The past tense has a few issues as well, “knew it was his younger brother” should be “had known.” This piece is very dark and mysterious, though!

Thanks Joe, for this complete guide for writing in present or past tense. You’ve cleared up my doubts and I’m relieved that I have chosen to write my novel it in the past tense. I find it is easier to write in the past tense. I recently read a book written in the present tense and admire the author for her splendid novel. I’d love to imitate her but i dare not because I’d unconciously change the tense some place and not notice it. Better leave present tense alone. Past tense is okay for me.

I’m so glad this helped you realize you made the right choice for your novel. What was the book you finished that was in present tense?

The book I finished reading and enjoyed is titled ‘The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton.

I’ve heard of that, Lilian. It looks good!

Great Post. Here are is the exercise followed by a comment

Funny how life gives you these unexpected moments, as if to say, see? If you weren’t such a controlling, over scheduled sod you might actually enjoy life a little more. Don is just killing time in Piccadilly Circus, itself a kind of accident since his rental car wouldn’t be available till 5PM. Bloody hell, he said like a true Englishman, which he’s not. But it turns out to be kind of unforseen blessing. For there he is, browsing in a bookstore in Piccadilly, just that phrase seems to conjure such possibility, that he meets Angela. It must look to her as though he is hitting on her, chatting her up as they say in England, but he really did want to drink a coffee. And now, here they are in Starbucks, and the whole moment is starting to feel very datey to him.

Funny how life gives you these unexpected moments, as if to say, see? If you weren’t such a controlling, over scheduled sod you might actually enjoy life a little more. Don was just killing time in Piccadilly Circus, itself a kind of accident since his rental car wouldn’t be available till 5PM. Bloody hell, he said like a true Englishman, which he’s not. But it turned out to be kind of unforseen blessing. For there he was, browsing in a bookstore in Piccadilly, just that phrase seems to conjure such possibility, that he met Angela. It must have looked to her as though he was hitting on her, chatting her up as they say in England, but he really did want to drink a coffee. Then off they went to Starbucks, and the afternoon started to feel very datey to him.

I started my memoir in the present tense months ago, mostly because I liked the sound of it and was inspired by Michael Ian Black’s memoir, You’re Not Doing It Right. It is tricky to maintain the voice throughout, and sometimes I would unconsciously slip back into the past voice.

A good example is my chapter call A Social Dis-ease posted on the daily writing section of this site. ( https://thewritepractice.com/community/daily-writing/a-social-dis-ease-revision-of-earlier-posted-from-wdtath/ )

When I need to fill in the back story a bit, I switch back to the past. So far I have seen no reason to not continue, though I recently started a short story all in the past and it seems to be a lot easier to write somehow.

Dan de Angeli

I love the tone of this, Dan. Wry and critical. Very fun. Tenses look great! Funny how the first two lines are both in different tenses and yet remain, correctly, the same in both.

This was a very interesting post! However, again, I have to offer a critique: apostrophes can be evil when they’re used in wrong places (its vs it’s, writers vs writer’s).

Thanks Ash! Evil, perhaps not, but incorrect, definitely. I’ve fixed them. Thank you!

As I walk I’m careful where I put my feet, not wanting to step in some trash or trip over some litter, perhaps a child’s broken toy left lying. Now and then I stop to study the buildings around me, the tenement row houses and run-down apartment blocks. Cramped quarters where you try hard to shut your ears, not wanting to know about the shouts, cries, maybe even screams of your neighbours. Maybe hoping that it’s at least not the children getting the beating. But you tune it all out. You have enough problems of your own.

Snatches of conversation I’m hearing tell me a lot of immigrants are starting out life in Britain right here on these streets. How do they feel now about the Promised Land?

A gust of wind blows at my skirt and I smooth it down, trying to stay decently covered. Three black-haired, black eyed young men in a huddle look my way; one of them whistles. As I pass by they look me over, curious. I cringe a bit, then give myself a mental shake and straighten my shoulders. I’m not some teenage runaway; I have business here.

How did she end up on these streets? And why am I here, trying to find her? This is madness. Again I pray for a miracle: If she’d only somehow materialize in front of me, or I’d glimpse her down the block.

When I get to the street corner my eyes scan the sign posts, willing “Faust Street” to appear on one of them. Next time I’m taking a cab right to the door. No, I correct myself. There won’t be a next time. Ever.

Surely it can’t be much farther. I plod on, conscious that the daylight’s disappearing. I glance up into the murky sky and realize the fog is rolling in. What would it be like to be caught wandering these East End streets in a pea soup fog. My mind flips to the story of Jack the Ripper. I force myself to concentrate on my flower garden at home.

A man approaches, walking toward me, and something makes me look in his face. It’s not the scars that startle me, but the look in his eyes. Like a wolf sizing up a silly ewe. And I’m seeing myself very fitted to the role of lamb kebab.

At this moment finding her seems not half as important as it did an hour ago. All my being is crying to be out of this place, off these streets.

The man is so close to me now I can smell the stale tobacco on his clothes. He stops and eyes me too thoroughly. He seems to think he knows what I’m doing here. Well I’m not, mister! I take a several steps back.

“Where ye going’ lady? He reaches out his hand, gripping my arm with powerful fingers. I’d like ta get ta know ye.” He pulls me toward him.

Half a block behind him I see a bobby step out of a shop and look in our direction. Thank God!

I won’t replay this in third person. If I did, it would read much the same — except that I could describe the MC as she walked along. Now I’m just giving the indication that she’s female and of an age to attract male attention.

I commented on your website, Christine, but I enjoyed your writing very much in this piece. Good job!

Thanks. I love writing opening scenes. But…um… what should come next. Should she find her or shouldn’t she? This is probably why I haven’t written a literary novel yet. 😉

I don’t know. I would start from scratch on that. What I like most is the setting and, especially, the character’s voice.

Thanks again. You’ve set the wheels turning; I’m going to give this serious thought. If the city street can be anywhere…and the search can be for anyone… The voice I can do.

Thank YOU for reading LaCresha. Best!

Thanks for your feedback Joe…I know I’m far from being perfect, but such kind of light always makes the try worthwhile. I did feel present tense made me restricted, where past was easier though.

Interesting observation, Diya. Thank you for giving it a try! 🙂

It’s also important to note that present tense leaves a lot of mystery about the future and makes it so that anyone can die, even the main character. Where as in past tense first person (I did this. I did that.) We usually know the main character will survive because they have to live to tell the story. Of course, this can be worked around with past tense paired with an omnipotent narrator (They did this. They did that.)

I personally have no preference in reading but I notice that I always write in past tense. I guess it just makes more sense in my brain that an event would be recorded after the even happens, not as it is happening.

A London scene? Oh, goodness. I’ll give it my best shot.

Great point, Katherine! Yes past tense 1st person novels make it very difficult to kill your character! Still possible, of course, since many stories are narrated by ghosts or even letters left behind, but still… it’s rarer.

Yes, I’ve read a few present tense first persons that killed of their character, but I really do feel like it’s cheating. Those endings always make me angry for some reason, unless of course we already know that they’re a ghost though the story.

This was really helpful. I always tend to prefer the past tense over the perfect, but have noticed that more and more books seem to be venturing into the present tense. Perhaps, as you say, it is because it is like the movies.

Glad you found it helpful, Tanya. Do you have any present tense novels you have enjoyed?

All the light We Cannot See – but that is such an exceptional book in so many ways. The sentences are short and punchy like a blog post, but it’s superb writing because of the poetry – the choice of verbs is extraordinary.

Isn’t it great? Glad you’re enjoying it, Tanya. 🙂

I really like what Elizabeth McCracken says about present tense – that ‘a good present tense is really about texture, not time, and should be as rich and complicated and full of possibilities as the past tense’.

Thanks for the thought-provoking piece, Joe. So much to unpack here. Have shared it.

Great quote, Bridget. I really like that. Thank you for sharing it. And for sharing our article!

I don’t think you can blame articles on that, Martin. It’s so normal to drift between tenses. I read a lot of first drafts and I can tell you, switching tenses is the one of the most common mistakes I see.

I also am not saying this decision is easy. It’s not really supposed to be easy. But it IS important, otherwise I wouldn’t have devoted 2,700+ words to helping you figure it out. Honestly, it sounds like you need to spend some time alone thinking about which tense is best for your novel. And then stick to it. No one can make the decision for you, but you do have to decide.

Let me know if I can help.

I tried writing a story in the present tense for the first time after reading this article, and I found that I kept accidentally switching back to past tense and had to go back and correct myself several times. That’s probably because I am so familiar with stories told in the past tense that it feels like the default sense to me.

I believe I agree with the sentiment that “Present Tense Intensifies the Emotions”. It seems to provide a sort of immediacy with the emotional changes that a character undergoes because they aren’t telling us something that happened a long time ago, with embellishments and with the foresight of what happens next. Instead, you get to experience what happens to them as it happens, making the narration rawer and possibly more surprising.

Here’s my attempt: http://loonytales.blogspot.com/2016/01/beautiful.html

How is “The Hunger Games” well written present tense? Just look at the first sentence: “When I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.” This is exactly what Pullman is talking about. The author thinks it means “When I woke up, the other side of the bed was cold.” but it actually means “Usually (or sometimes, or always) when I wake up, the other side of the bed is cold.” You can’t just find/replace the tenses, you have to think about their usual use. This could’ve been fixed by a simple “I awake and realize the other side of the bed is cold.” if only the author knew what she was doing. One of the reasons I couldn’t get through the book was that I couldn’t tell most of the time whether Catniss was coming or going. I couldn’t tell if she was planning to pick up the bow, was picking up the bow, had already picked up the bow… Finally I got tired of trying to figure out what the author actually intended it to mean and switched to a novel where the author was clear, precise and unambiguous.

Sorry you didn’t enjoy it, Catalina. Perhaps present tense is an acquired taste. You should try Rabbit, Run next!

Very enlightening and an invitation to read some great novels. Do you have a piece on past tense that is as detailed?

Not currently, David, although we may update this article in the future. Thank you for reading!

But when you write a how to article, the present tense is always the best and again the content of a how to article definitely is not a story but something that directs somebody to do something. Snapback Caps

When you are telling a story where the reader can not a part of it or wasn’t the part of it, past tense is best. But present tense make the reader feel that he too can be the part of the story.

I am a bit late to the discussion, maybe by two years, but maybe someone will read this. I am one of those people who will throw down a book in disgust if it is written in present tense, Charles Dickens or Salman Rushide not withstanding. Why?

Because, I imagine the narrator must be writing the narrative as it happens. Which means, the narrator has to be both observing and narrating at the same time. Unless it is Quantum Entanglement, I don’t see how that is possible- being at two places or two different timelines at the same time. The narrator can be omniscient, a time-traveler if you will, but then, I am human and I like to read about books that are written with human curiosities and aspirations. So, I not only see writing in the present tense as annoying, but I consider it plain wrong. I know many of us here will disagree, but consider this-

“I am the sum total of everything that went before me, of all I have been seen done, of everything done-to-me. I am everyone everything whose being-in-the-world affected was affected by mine. I am anything that happens after I’m gone which would not have happened if I had not come.- Salman Rushdie.”

This is more like a view into a letter that is written by Salman Rushdie. It is internal reflection. So it can be written in the present tense. In fact, past tense would have made it like Salman Rushdie was writing it as a ghost.

And consider this-

“A solemn consideration, when I enter a great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses encloses its own secret; that every room in every one of them encloses its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousands of breasts there, is, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!- Charles Dickens.”

Again, this comes off as internal reflection, because of the ‘when’. If one had to write this as if this was happening in the present, one could attempt this-

“A solemn consideration, when I entered any great city by night, that every one of those darkly clustered houses enclosed its own secret; that every room in every one of them enclosed its own secret; that every beating heart in the hundreds of thousand of breasts there, was, in some of its imaginings, a secret to the heart nearest it!”

Still works.

Now lets consider this- again, an except from Dickens’s Great Expectations- “…

“Hold your noise!” cried a terrible voice, as a man started up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!”

A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who had been soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limped, and shivered, and glared and growled; and whose teeth chattered in his head as he seized me by the chin.

“O! Don’t cut my throat, sir,” I pleaded in terror. “Pray don’t do it, sir.” “Tell us your name!” said the man. “Quick!” “Pip, sir.” “Once more,” said the man, staring at me. “Give it mouth!” “Pip. Pip, sir!” “Show us where you live,” said the man. “Pint out the place!”

Let’s now attempt this in present tense-

“…

“Hold your noise!” cries a terrible voice, as a man starts up from among the graves at the side of the church porch. “Keep still, you little devil, or I’ll cut your throat!”

A fearful man, all in coarse grey, with a great iron on his leg. A man with no hat, and with broken shoes, and with an old rag tied round his head. A man who was soaked in water, and smothered in mud, and lamed by stones, and cut by flints, and stung by nettles, and torn by briars; who limps, and shivers, and glares and growls; and whose teeth chatters in his head as he seize me by the chin.

“O! Don’t cut my throat, sir,” I plead in terror. “Pray don’t do it, sir.” “Tell us your name!” says the man. “Quick!” “Pip, sir.” “Once more,” says the man, staring at me. “Give it mouth!” “Pip. Pip, sir!” “Show us where you live,” says the man. “Pint out the place!”

It doesn’t quite cut it. What’s wrong?

I am telling the story as it is happening to me! Will I? In the situation I am, when a man is terrorizing me, threatening to cut my throat? Will I tell you a story?

Nah, I think writing in present tense is a gross negligence on the part of the writer to respect his/her reader to be a discernible, self-respecting human, and therefore, the writer will then, be writing for an audience of people who have lost it in their heads. So, yes, I will throw the book down in disgust.

Hi, thank you for this article. I’m not a creative writer – I’m an art therapy Masters student looking to make my report on “creative inquiry” more interesting. I started writing it in the present tense to make it more personal, however, I felt out of my depth because it deserved more research and “know how”. Your article has helped me to appreciate the different qualities in past and present tense writing, so I’m sticking with past tense for now. I will, however, look up your recommended readings because you’ve sparked my interest! This is best article I’ve found and easiest to understand. All the best.

Is this sentence correct… “Tonya and Meg ask us for help moving that heavy box.” My teacher put it on a warm up for school and told us that it was incorrect, and that it was supposed to be ‘asked’ instead of ‘ask’. I think that he is wrong, but I’m not sure.

I’ll dump your book immediately if I see present tense. I hate it, and many others do also. When you tell a story, you instinctively tell it in the past tense. That’s what people expect. Telling it in the present tense is jarring. It’s like a radio announcer is reading it. In addition, most of the present tense writing I’ve seen switches to past tense willy-nilly.

I personally undoubtedly prefer past tense, however, I have issue with how to end it. It might be strange, but despite not writing in first person I don’t like the narrator to be outside of the story. I want an omniscient narrator, not for one of my characters to be retelling it, but if the story is told in past tense I don’t feel like it will ever be finished.

Trackbacks/Pingbacks

• The Runaway | Christine Composes - […] The Write Practice today asks up to write a scene about a young man or woman walking through London.…
• King Eats Caterpillar | Christine's Collection - […] prompts, maybe I can turn the tables, go back and post on a past writing prompt. And since The…
• How to choose the right tense for your novel: past tense vs. present tense | Toni Kennedy : A Writing Life - […] How to choose the right tense for your novel: past tense vs. present tense […]
• Links To Blog Posts on Writing – January 2016 | Anna Butler - […] How to Choose the RIGHT Tense for Your Novel – Joe Bunting at The Write Practice with some practical…
• Parallelism: Keep Your Verb Tenses Consistent - […] See how the verbs match tense and form? In this example, all the verbs are in their gerund form, leading…
• Writing Links Round Up 4/11-4/16 – B. Shaun Smith - […] How to Choose the RIGHT Tense for Your Novel […]
• Simple Steps to Writing a Novel | Dawn Ross - Aspiring Book Author - […] There are only two choices in writing tense: past tense or present tense. One would think that writing in…
• Parallelism: Keep Your Verb Tenses Consistent | Creative Writing - […] See how the verbs match tense and form? In this example, all the verbs are in their gerund form, leading…
• Tense about Tense – Tuesday Writers - […] to https://thewritepractice.com/past-tense-vs-present-tense/ most novels are written in past tense. That doesn’t seem right to me, but maybe most adult […]
• Past or Present: why tense matters in our writing, and how to use it well – Words like trees - […] new (even if it isn’t established enough to overwhelm the convention of the past tense). In this article, Joe…
• Should I write my story in present or past tense? – Writing Essentials by Ellen - […] from the past to the present – an issue we discussed in the previous post. Joe Bunting of The…
• The Case of the Inconsistent Tense | Edward Forrest Frank - […] When you are writing something, you need to decide whether you are going to use past tense, present tense,…
• Proofreading Your Novel: 8 Ways to Edit Your Final Draft | The Novel Smithy - […] How to Choose the Right Tense for Your Novel […]

Submit a Comment Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Submit Comment

Join over 450,000 readers who are saying YES to practice. You’ll also get a free copy of our eBook 14 Prompts :

Popular Resources

Best Resources for Writers Book Writing Tips & Guides Creativity & Inspiration Tips Writing Prompts Grammar & Vocab Resources Best Book Writing Software ProWritingAid Review Writing Teacher Resources Publisher Rocket Review Scrivener Review Gifts for Writers

Books By Our Writers

You've got it! Just us where to send your guide.

Enter your email to get our free 10-step guide to becoming a writer.

You've got it! Just us where to send your book.

Enter your first name and email to get our free book, 14 Prompts.

Want to Get Published?

Enter your email to get our free interactive checklist to writing and publishing a book.

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Past or present tense, when reporting results?

There are several questions about tense use in paper writing. My question is specific to the results section. What tense should it be used when reporting the results of the paper itself?

"Two groups out of three had a higher incidence of..."

"Group A is taller than group B"

I guess both might work but I can't find any good rule to follow.

• writing-style

• I find writing in different tenses in the same paper annoying (not sure why!). I'd go with In our experiment, group A is taller than group B. But then most of my reporting is more mathematical and more likely to be true for all time. –  Peter K. Commented Jan 7, 2022 at 21:37
• Different fields have different standards for writing. In mathematics, the "best" style is is present tense and imperative ("Do this, then do that"), though many mathematicians write in the first person plural and in the present tense ("We do this, then we do that"). I understand that historians tend to use the historical present tense ("The bread lines are long, and many people starve"), while chemists tend to the past tense in the passive voice ("The beaker was agitated"). I would try to determine the writing standards of your field, and conform to those. –  Xander Henderson Commented Jan 10, 2022 at 13:18

5 Answers 5

There is one important difference between

Group A is taller than group B.

Group A was taller than group B.

When you write in the present tense, you claim that your finding is always true, in the sense of an eternal truth. There is nothing wrong with reporting results in the present tense if that is what you want to express. However, if some other paper reports results that contradict your findings such a general statement quickly becomes wrong.

So scientist usually are careful with what they say, and a statement in the past tense, if it reflects your observations, will always be true in the framework of your paper. Conflicting findings cannot possibly invalidate your statement in any way, because you simply reported how it actually was .

So there is basically no rule that you follow when writing in past tense, it is a decision you take about what you want to express.

The results section, as the name itself suggests, 'reports' the findings. Reporting should take place in the past tense in a passive voice. That would be the first sentence you quote.

Additional thoughts: While the past tense clause is difficult to argue against, some may argue that active voice is easier to read and perhaps should be preferred. It may boil down to preference, and you may have your own, as long as you stay consistent within the section/article. Make sure it does not conflict with reporting, see the other answer on that.

• 1 But the finding are facts, and they "should" be true at all time. In my example group A will always be taller than group B, not just at the time of measurement. –  Herman Toothrot Commented Dec 3, 2021 at 18:21
• 2 @HermanToothrot, note that samples only give "evidence". They don't necessarily give the truth, and certainly not truth for all time if humans are involved. –  Buffy Commented Dec 3, 2021 at 18:24
• @HermanToothrot Well, don't forget we are always reporting what we measur ed , very infrequently would you be reporting static truths. –  Azor Ahai -him- Commented Dec 3, 2021 at 18:24
• @Herman Toothrot Are you sure neither group has acromegaly? Even adults change height. –  Terry Loring Commented Dec 3, 2021 at 19:33
• 3 @HermanToothrot If you have a sample of some population, the past tense helps separate your , say, smokers, from smokers in general. "Smokers were 2 meters tall" carries an implied "in this sample"; "Smokers are 2 meters tall" sounds like an inappropriate generalization to everyone who smokes. I guess if you were writing about history you might introduce an ambiguity again, if you could be understood as "smokers in the 19th century", but that's not a circumstance I've come across in my own writing. –  Bryan Krause ♦ Commented Dec 3, 2021 at 19:45

You can use either (so long as it is clear when your findings were made)

Contrary to other answers here, I see nothing wrong with reporting results in the present tense. When you read old newspapers from a century or two ago, and they write in the present tense, you don't take that to mean that the things in them are still true, and you don't consider it an error on the part of the writer if something they assert is no longer true --- "Even with the arrival of the Benz Patent-Motorwagen, the horse and buggy is still the favoured method of transfort for society ladies".

Any sensible reader of an academic paper understands that the assertions made relate to research conducted at that time and that assertions about the state of the world related to the time and place under consideration in the research. In particular, when you refer to groups of research participants, it is understood that you are referring to a particular group of people as they existed at the time of the research. (If this were not true, how would we ever report age data for such groups?)

I disagree with the other answer here asserting that writing in the present tense makes a claim that something is "eternally true". That is simply ridiculous --- people make assertions in the present tense all the time, and they rarely intend these assertions to contain eternal truths. To the contrary, any sensible reader will interpret writing in the present tense as meaning that the relevant facts are asserted to be correct at the time of the research (i.e., usually about a year or two prior to publication).

In terms of which tense is better, that is contextual, and you will need to use your best judgment as to what sounds clearer and more accurate. Either tense should be legitimate so long as it is clear to the reader (often from context) when the findings were made. Unless there is a good reason to the contrary, present tense will usually be interpreted as referring to the time at which the research was conducted. Past tense is a bit trickier --- depending on context, it might be interpreted in this same way, or it might be interpreted as meaning that the asserted fact was true at some time prior to the research being conducted. If you are using past tense, you should be careful to ensure that you are not implicitly suggesting a contemporaneous change in facts occuring at the time of the research --- e.g., saying "Group A was taller than group B" might suggest that they are no longer taller now.

The results of a paper aren't really observations about how the world is: they are the results of measurements made, or analyses done. I think it's more natural to report these in the past tense, because even when you are writing the paper, the analyses were done in the (hopefully recent) past.

For example, you wouldn't really write

Group A is taller than Group B.

You would write something like

The average height in Group A was 3.7cm [2 SD] greater than the average height in Group B.

I want to write "was" here, because it could be replaced with "was found to be" or "was calculated to be". It is not wrong to say "is", but it feels unnatural to me.

There are some situations where "is" feels more natural - when you're really reporting on something out there which doesn't require any new analyses. For example:

In Smith et al.'s data set, every member of Group A is taller than every member of Group B, which is a striking difference.

The data set is fixed in time and eternal; a "was" here would imply that the data set was corrected later. But we'd write

Smith et al. found a statistically significant difference between the heights of Group A and Group B

because they found this difference in the past.

Both are common. The present tense is more lively and it has one other advantage: It allows you to separate what you did from what previous authors have done. "The chemical reactions are divided into three groups, whereas Adam et al. (2021) divided them into two groups."

Unless an event definitely occurred in the past, such as "the comet impacted Jupiter", I always use the present tense: "The results show ...", "The values are calculated with ...". The choice of tense should be uniform; unnecessarily switching between tenses would be confusing.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged writing writing-style ..

• Featured on Meta
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Hot Network Questions

• Why did Godwin Baxter sew money into her dress?
• Former manager and team keep reaching out with questions despite transferring to a new team
• Is the ground screw on this 4" round weatherproof box OK by code?
• Travelling from Ireland to Northern Ireland (UK Visa required national)
• but Ireland has ever been a shipwreck coast
• Routing problem with ethernet cross-over network
• Is US Citizen, Omali Yeshitela, facing jail for producing pro-Russian propaganda?
• Seeking optimization modelling problems involving non-continuous or non-interval defined functions for teaching
• How can dragons breathe in space?
• How do I know which UTXOs are safe to spend?
• Embedding f.g. groups in 2-generated groups
• Two equivalent definitions of function?
• Isn't manual port forwarding actually less safe than UPnP?
• Why exactly do we need the learning rate in gradient descent?
• What can a time traveler use to generate an encryption key to encrypt information so it's only decryptable after a given time period
• Why did Doctor Baxter ask a rhetorical question here?
• Has Donald Trump or his campaign explained what his plan is so that "we’ll have it fixed so good you’re not gonna have to vote"?
• Publishing a paper written in your free time as an unaffiliated author when you are affiliated
• When should I give up searching for a tenure track faculty job?
• Subgroups of a Weyl group fixing some vectors and its cohomology: MAGMA
• Is my connection in Jeddha too short?
• Central element of matrix
• Make both colors connected
• Higher homological mirror symmetry?

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

Should I use present or past tense when referring to a (scientific) paper? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: What (grammatical) tense to use when doing reference in a paper?

In the two examples below, which tense is preferred?

"Smith (2001) noted that ..." or "Smith (2001) notes that ..."

"The paper established ..." or "The paper establishes ..."

If both forms are equally valid, is it customary to use both forms within a text, or should I stick to one form?

• I think if the information presented in the paper has become common knowledge within the target audience, use the past tense. If not, use present tense (i.e. - if it's likely any significant proportion of your audience are unaware of the information, use present tense because they are only now coming to know it through your reference ). –  FumbleFingers Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 18:26

2 Answers 2

MLA style and others recommend using present tense when citing published sources. Their explanation is that "Smith notes that" is a signal phrase , and that signal phrases should have present tense verbs.

The lone exception seems to be APA style , which "dictates that writers use the past or present past tense when citing previous research," i.e. "Smith (2001) noted" or "Smith (2001) has noted."

If you're governed by APA style, follow their guidelines and use past or present past tense. Otherwise, use present tense.

• Maybe (if present tense is not required by a style) you could use past tense in cases like "Already Socrates (399 BC) noted: '"I know that I know nothing'". –  Stephen Commented Jan 27, 2012 at 19:11
• Signal phrase link leads to a deceptive site according to Firefox –  HRSE Commented Sep 20, 2023 at 8:31
• 1 @HRSE Thanks, changed the link to a known good reference. –  Gnawme Commented Sep 20, 2023 at 22:55

" APA style requires authors to use the past tense or present perfect tense when using signal phrases to describe earlier research, for example, Jones (1998) found or Jones (1998) has found ."

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged phrases tenses or ask your own question .

• Featured on Meta
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...

Hot Network Questions

• Why did Godwin Baxter sew money into her dress?
• Subgroups of a Weyl group fixing some vectors and its cohomology: MAGMA
• the effect of Schengen visa refusal on Australian visa decision?
• 7x10 floor and a 8x8 and a 6x1 carpet, only one cut allowed
• Relationship between Pythagorean Triples and double/half angles
• When we say "roll out" a product, do we mean like a carpet or like a car?
• Higher homological mirror symmetry?
• Clarification on Work-Energy Theorem
• When should I give up searching for a tenure track faculty job?
• Was there an Easter egg in the Electrologica X1 QUINIO (GO-MOKU) game?
• Embedding f.g. groups in 2-generated groups
• Single pole light switch with three incoming wires that does not power any outlets, want to add new light
• Convergent Subsequences and Limits
• Studies on Square Roots
• How do I drop a database which has brackets in its name?
• What is the "LBGT+ Commitment Charter" that Paris 2024 signed back in July 2018?
• Why did Doctor Baxter ask a rhetorical question here?
• Can one be restricted from carrying a gun on the metro in New York city?
• What can a time traveler use to generate an encryption key to encrypt information so it's only decryptable after a given time period
• Is a sixteenth note quintuplet worth 4 sixteenth notes? If so, why is this wrong?
• も after the adverbial form of i-adjectives
• What is a Cheese Dip (as made by Henri Willig)?
• Why exactly do we need the learning rate in gradient descent?
• Why does the 68000 have Immediate addressing modes for .b instructions?

Get the Reddit app

Share your essays, request feedback, get prompts, and basically everything related to essays. We're a community centered around essays.

Past or Present Tense When Quoting

I am writing an academic essay about The Sun Also Rises, which is written in the past tense. However, I know that in my essay the events of the novel should be spoken about in the present tense. When quoting from the novel, should I therefore use brackets to change the tense, or keep it in the past? For example,

Brett is not allowed into the church because she "had no hat"

Brett is not allowed into the church because she "[has] no hat" OR she "ha[s] no hat"

Most of the time the quotes I use don't have any words that indicate the tense because they are too short, but it feels awkward to write something like,

Brett is not allowed into the church because she has "no hat"

However, that might just be the best way to do it, I don't know. This has always confused me. Thank you!

By continuing, you agree to our User Agreement and acknowledge that you understand the Privacy Policy .

Enter the 6-digit code from your authenticator app

You’ve set up two-factor authentication for this account.

Enter a 6-digit backup code

Create your username and password.

Reddit is anonymous, so your username is what you’ll go by here. Choose wisely—because once you get a name, you can’t change it.

Reset your password

Enter your email address or username and we’ll send you a link to reset your password

Check your inbox

An email with a link to reset your password was sent to the email address associated with your account

Choose a Reddit account to continue