Anonymous Posted 19 years ago
Grammar
verb tense agreement
I'm trying to help my father edit a past-tense fictional story, and he keeps starting sentences with phrases containing a present tense verb. I've told him that this is incorrect grammar, but he thinks it is acceptable. Who's correct?
ex: "Driving down the road, my hair moved with the wind."
ex: "Moving across a remote, desolate landscape, I felt isolated in this quiet plain."
ex: "Driving down the road, my hair moved with the wind."
ex: "Moving across a remote, desolate landscape, I felt isolated in this quiet plain."
Top answer
driving down the road and moving across a ... landscape are presumably the phrases you think contain a present tense verb. This is wrong.
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driving down the road and moving across a ... landscape are presumably the phrases you think contain a present tense verb. This is wrong. You misunderstand the structure. These phrases are called participial phrases. Because of the -ing, you may think they are present tense verbs, but they are not. driving and moving are present participles. They can b
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