Grammar and Language Workbook

wondrous sunrise.
Replace the incorrect pronoun with an appropriate noun.
More help in eliminating
incorrect pronoun shifts is
available in Lesson 58.
Need
More
Help?
Incorrect pronoun shifts occur when a writer or speaker uses a
pronoun in one person and then illogically shifts to a pronoun in another
person.

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Shift in Verb Tenses
Troubleshooter
35
Copyright © by Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
T
roubleshooter
P
ROBLEM
1
Unnecessary shifts in tense
shift t
Akira waits for the bus and worked on the computer.
shift t
Jenny hit the home run and runs around the bases.
S
OLUTION
Akira waits for the bus and works on the computer.
Jenny hit the home run and ran around the bases.
Use the same tense for both verbs.
Two or more events occurring at the same time must have the same
verb tense.
P
ROBLEM
2
Tenses do not indicate that one event precedes or succeeds another
shift t
By the time the movie finally started, we waited impatiently
through ten minutes of commercials.
S
OLUTION
By the time the movie finally started, we had waited impatiently
through ten minutes of commercials.
Use the past perfect tense for the earlier of two actions to indicate that
one action began and ended before another action began.
If events being described occurred at different times, shift tenses to
show that one event precedes or follows another.
More help with shifts in
verb tenses is available in