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Old 06-18-2012, 09:24 AM   #46
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Wow. You've read me all wrong. I could care less about different opinions. I'll readily assimilate new ideas if they're better, but respecting different opinions for the sake of it? Pfft. Why would I embrace an opinion I disagree with? It may be necessary to understand someone's point of view specifically to point out why they're wrong, but you shouldn't confuse that with empathy any more than an autopsy is a way to a man's heart.
I think you sarcasm meter is busted
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Old 06-18-2012, 09:56 AM   #47
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There's a difference between taking on board opinions which differ from one's own, and talking to people politely. It is possible (and, dare I say desirable?) to be able to hold civilised conversations even with people who do hold differing viewpoints.
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Old 06-18-2012, 12:01 PM   #48
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Another big mistake of new authors is getting scene tense correct. IE, has vs have. Oddly enough, even I struggle with that somewhat. I think part of that comes from the way we speak. In literature we're required to exact perfect grammar. In speaking, not so much. I've gotten away with using things like "me and you" vs "you and I" so often it hurts. Or using mishmash hack words. For example, around here it's very, very common to use "fer" instead of "for", "gonna" instead of "going to" (I even use this word a bit in my writing because it just flows better in dialogue), "should've" instead of "should have" and so on.

On the flipside you can also get so cautious about using wrong words that you go overboard and start mentally eliminating conjunctions you should be using, such as writing "he had" instead of "he'd", or "we are" instead of "we're". I'm guilty more of this than the first, but I still do both periodically.
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Old 06-18-2012, 05:35 PM   #49
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Tense is something I often have problems with. For example, if you write in the past tense about something which is still the case.

If I'm writing a brief review - bad memory - of a book I've just read, should I say:

"While I read this book I became totally absorbed by the sense of place which (was or is? The book still exists.) depicted with small telling details by the author."

This is a bad example; but I can't think of anything better right now.
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Old 06-19-2012, 08:20 AM   #50
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BookCat View Post
"While I read this book I became totally absorbed by the sense of place which (was or is? The book still exists.) depicted with small telling details by the author."
"Was" is correct in that case. "Became" is the key to the tense that applies to the passage.
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Old 06-19-2012, 08:45 AM   #51
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Right, since there's already one past tense verb in the sentence, you'd need to continue using past tense throughout it. The tricky ones are those which only have one word in the entire sentence which is tense related, and even more so if it's an arbitrary word such as is or was.
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Old 06-19-2012, 09:16 AM   #52
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Originally Posted by Steven Lake View Post
Right, since there's already one past tense verb in the sentence, you'd need to continue using past tense throughout it. The tricky ones are those which only have one word in the entire sentence which is tense related, and even more so if it's an arbitrary word such as is or was.
Its smaller unit then just a whole sentence right? So I could say

I WAS a dog but now I AM a cat
or
The dog is happy and the cat was sad
Correct?

Last edited by VydorScope; 06-19-2012 at 11:46 AM. Reason: typo
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Old 06-19-2012, 10:52 AM   #53
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And what of the monkey?
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Old 06-19-2012, 11:46 AM   #54
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Originally Posted by kennyc View Post
And what of the monkey?
He wandered off to see if the sheep has any wool.

(that another case of mix tense being allowed in a sentence, but is that right?)
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Old 06-19-2012, 11:52 AM   #55
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Mixed tense is alright to have, but I was referring to a sentence that would only have one instance of present or past tense.
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Old 06-19-2012, 09:53 PM   #56
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I'm confused.
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Old 06-19-2012, 11:54 PM   #57
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Well, this is probably a weak example, but this is what I mean by a sentence with single tense.

The cat was dead.
The cat is dead.

Multiple tense would be something like this.

The cat was dead because it was not alive.
The frog is not a reptile, but rather is an amphibian because of its nature.

Mixed tense therefore would be like this.

The door is open because it was designed to open automatically and will do so again. (past, present, and future in this example)

I hope that explains what I was saying. ^_^
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Old 06-20-2012, 06:55 AM   #58
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Now I'm getting tense!
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Old 06-22-2012, 07:07 PM   #59
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Old 06-23-2012, 11:13 AM   #60
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I'd suggest everyone read Ted Chiang's - Story of Your Life for some fun with tense and viewpoint.

http://marianaeggers.com/files/tiechang.pdf
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