Question

Rewrite the paragraph below, correcting the shifts in verb tense.

Answer 1

Answer:

Mr. Firman invited his friend, Mr. Nulty, to come over and have dinner with him and Mrs. Smith. The maid fixed a big dinner for the three of them, and when they were ready for dessert, she brought a cake out for Mr. Nulty because it was his fifty-ninth birthday. The candles were lit and the lights were turned out so that he could blow out the candles in the dark. Mrs. Smith then began to clear the table of the food and dishes.

Explanation:

The Tense shift is characterized as the shift or switch from one verb tense(present) to another(past) and then moving back to the present without any valid reason. The author usually involved this shift to 'improve the sharpness of the narrative.'

In the given paragraph, the author dwindles from the present tense to the past tense and comes back to the present but here, it seems to lack a valid reason for this shift. Thus, these verb tenses are converted back into the past as the paragraph narrates a past account.