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Avoiding Shifts in Person

Try to avoid unnecessary shifts from one person to another. These can confuse the reader. When writing about a person, choose one pronoun and stay with that pronoun.

Exercise 1.12

Some of the following sentences contain shifts in person. Identify each error by drawing a line under the pronoun; then write the correct form above the word. You may have to change the form of the verb.

Question:

1. I enjoy eating out instead of cooking at home. Living in Seattle, you have a choice of many different kinds of restaurants. My favourite restaurant is a Japanese one near my home. It is small and very popular, so you usually have to wait for a table.

2. If a person wants to learn to play a musical instrument well, you will have to develop self-discipline. The serious music student, for example, must be willing to give up watching two or three hours of television a day, and, instead, spend your time practicing.

3. During the past year or two, the price of food has risen sharply. Every time I go to the market, you can see increases in several items. Not so long ago, your twenty dollars bought quite a few bags of groceries, but now I can carry twenty dollars’ worth of food home in one bag.

4. I received a camera for a graduation present last year. It worked fine at first, but after a few months, you could tell that something was wrong with it. The pictures were so blurry that you couldn’t recognize the people in them. The repair person at the camera shop wanted too much money to repair it, so I stopped using it. You would be wasting your money to buy film for that lemon.

5. My brother likes his job as a lifeguard at the beach. You don’t have to wear a coat and tie to work, and you are out in the fresh air all day. A lifeguard has an important job. You don’t just watch pretty girls; you are responsible for the lives of all those people who come to enjoy the ocean.

Answer 1:

Answer 2:

1. I enjoy eating out instead of cooking at home. Living in Seattle, I have a choice of many different kinds of restaurants. My favourite restaurant is a Japanese one near my home. It is small and very popular, so I usually have to wait for a table.

2. If a person wants to learn to play a musical instrument well, (he or she) will have to develop self-discipline. The serious music student, for example, must be willing to give up watching two or three hours of television a day, and, instead, spend (her or his) time practicing.

3. During the past year or two, the price of food has risen sharply. Every time I go to the market, I can see increases in several items. Not so long ago, my twenty dollars bought quite a few bags of groceries, but now I can carry twenty dollars’ worth of food home in one bag.

4. I received a camera for a graduation present last year. It worked fine at first, but after a few months, I could tell that something was wrong with it. The pictures were so blurry that you couldn’t recognize the people in them. The repair person at the camera shop wanted too much money to repair it, so I stopped using it. I would be wasting my money to buy film for that lemon.

5. My brother likes his job as a lifeguard at the beach. He doesn’t have to wear a coat and tie to work, and he out in the fresh air all day. A lifeguard has an important job. He doesn’t just watch pretty girls; He is responsible for the lives of all those people who come to enjoy the ocean.

Tense Shift Problem

Do not shift tenses in the middle of a sentence, a paragraph, or an essay unless you have a reason to do so. If you begin writing in the present tense, don’t shift to the past. If you begin in the past, don’t shift to the present.

Exercise 2.16

Some of the following sentences contain shifts in tense. Identify each error by drawing a line under the incorrect verb. Write the correct form above the word.

Question:

1. Last Tuesday night I went to the library because I had a test in history on Wednesday morning. It is too noisy at home to study. My brother is playing the stereo, my mother was vacuuming, and my little sister and her friend are chasing each other around the house. How am I supposed to concentrate with all that commotion?

2. My friend Greg loves peanut butter. Every morning he spread peanut butter on his toast or waffles. He snacked on peanut butter cups at school, and, of course, he ate peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day. Nowadays he bakes his own peanut butter cookies because his mother had refused to make them anymore. Greg was a hopeless case; he even covers a slice of chocolate cake with peanut butter.

3. My wife and I bought a golden retriever puppy last year. We made the mistake on the first few nights of allowing the puppy to sleep on a rug by our bed because he misses his brothers and sisters. Later when we made a bed for him in the laundry room, he howls and scratches on the door for several hours every night. After a while the neighbours call on the telephone to complain about the noise. We thought that he will never give up. The puppy finally learned to sleep by himself, and the neighbours start speaking to us again.

Answer 1:

Answer 2:

1. Last Tuesday night I went to the library because I had a test in history on Wednesday morning. It is too noisy at home to study. My brother was playing the stereo, my mother was vacuuming, and my little sister and her friend were chased each other around the house. How am I supposed to concentrate with all that commotion?

2. My friend Greg loves peanut butter. Every morning he spread peanut butter on his toast or waffles. He snacking on peanut butter cups at school, and, of course, he eats peanut butter sandwiches for lunch every day. Nowadays he bakes his own peanut butter cookies because his mother was refusing to make them anymore. Greg is a hopeless case; he even covers a slice of chocolate cake with peanut butter.

3. My wife and I bought a golden retriever puppy last year. We made the mistake on the first few nights of allowing the puppy to sleep on a rug by our bed because he misses his brothers and sisters. Later when we made a bed for him in the laundry room, he howled and scratched on the door for several hours every night. After a while the neighbours call on the telephone to complain about the noise. We thought that he would never give up. The puppy finally learned to sleep by himself, and the neighbours start speaking to us again.