ACT Preparation / Unit 3 ACT 0209 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Keep the Tense Consistent
Captions available
The idea
Keep one governing tense through a passage. Shift tenses only to mark a real change in time.
In practice
"She opened the door, looks around and stepped inside" slides into the present; looked restores the past.
Where people slip
A shift is correct when the time changes: "She lives in Ohio now but grew up in Maine." Check what the passage's time actually does.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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