Shift in tense and starting a historical account with the present tense
I was just writing a historical overview of a battle and decided I'd write the introduction in the present tense--the present tense being a narration of a specific event during the war.
I just realized though that in the last sentence, I shifted from there to describing how the events are perceived today.
So instead of the present tense consistently being about how the event occurred, it shifts to how those events are perceived today at the end of the paragraph.
I've fiddled around with the passage a bit, but I'm still not sure how to write it.
Is it better to stick to one tense from one perspective throughout the opening paragraph? How do I go about that? I've changed it from
This incident has since [links it to current situation] . . . Towards the end of the struggle, the flag would have. . .
to
This incident would go on to [links it to current situation]. . . Towards the end of the struggle, the flag would have . . .
Does the fix the issue (since the perspective remains unchanged)? To me it seems that it looks to the future from the perspective of the event whereas option earlier it shifted to things as they are now and looks back from there.
Surely I can't stay in the present tense of the event and say:
This incident will go on to . . .
Right? That sounds sloppy somehow.
This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/8696. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
1 answer
Which one you use I think depends on when "today's" perspective became popular.
If "today" is recent:
The colonists dump the tea into Boston Harbor to protest George III's hated tax. This incident has since become the inspiration for the name of the neoconservative movement of the early 2010s.
vs. if "today" was decided a long time ago and continues through today:
The colonists dump the tea into Boston Harbor to protest George III's hated tax. This incident would go on to be called the "Boston Tea Party."
You can use "This incident will go on to..." if you are remaining in the battle for the rest of the paragraph (and just using that phrase to jump forward for a moment):
The colonists dump the tea into Boston Harbor to protest George III's hated tax. This incident will go on to be called the "Boston Tea Party," but on the morning of December 17, 1773, the Boston Globe calls it "The Oolong Walk Off a Short Plank."
0 comment threads
0 comment threads