MIxing present and past tense

Question

I was taught that it is incorrect to have different tenses in a single sentence, however I believe this is wrong as I've seen different tenses in a sentence and someone here (or in another forum) long ago mentioned that it's ok to mix tenses.

Just want to confirm with something I wrote -

Ferdis · Accepted Answer

Use the past tense in all cases here. Using the past tense does not mean that a situation is no longer so in the present: the car was red, and it still is.

You can mix tenses in a single sentence: I forgot to do my homework yesterday, so I will not go to school tomorrow. (past/future)

When writing a story like this, it is best to stick to one base tense -- in this case the past tense, which is by far the most common.

past tense as base:

The first thing that we saw when we exited the taxi were the multi-coloured windows of the rooms. Each window had a different colour, so from the street the hotel looked like a giant multi-coloured checkered board; we thought it was another disco at first. Later we found out that the colours were produced by LED lights mounted just outside each window.

present tense base:

The first thing that we see when we exit the taxi are the multi-coloured windows of the rooms. Each window has a different colour, so from the street the hotel looks like a giant multi-coloured checkered board; we think it is another disco at first. Later we find out that the colours are produced by LED lights mounted just outside each window.

MIxing present and past tense

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