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Q&A Reasons for confusion over tenses in a story

The tense is not wrong. Guessing as to why you are being told it is wrong: English grammar is a system of explanation, not a set of rules, and it is incredibly complicated, and even as complicate...

posted 7y ago by Mark Baker‭  ·  last activity 5y ago by System‭

Answer
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2020-01-03T20:41:55Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29752
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:53:49Z (about 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/29752
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
#2: Initial revision by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T06:53:49Z (about 5 years ago)
The tense is not wrong.

Guessing as to why you are being told it is wrong: English grammar is a system of explanation, not a set of rules, and it is incredibly complicated, and even as complicated as it is, still does not adequately describe all forms of common English usage. In this system of explanation, "Yelled" is past tense and "ignoring" is a present participle. One "past", one "present", therefore your critics think it is wrong.

BUT present participles are used to form the past continuous tense. (I told you it was complicated.) "Ignoring" is (in this sentence) in the past continuous tense. So the tenses match.

At least, that is the best analysis I can give. But there are those here who are far more ardent and learned grammar wonks than I, and they may explain it a different way.

But like I said, you are dealing with a system of explanation that often has a very hard time categorizing what are very common English phrases. You are far more likely to learn to use tenses correctly in English by observing and imitating common English usage.

Your sentence is common English usage.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2017-08-14T20:19:27Z (over 7 years ago)
Original score: 37