Can anyone tell me why in stories/newspapers etc people use multiple tenses to describe a story or event(.i.e. sometimes they use present, sometimes past, sometimes past perfect to describe a 'single event') Why not use one tense to make matters easy to read.
for e.g. (Jack 'is' doing something and in the next line Jack 'was' or 'had' done something or 'will' do something while describing the same event) why not keep one tense only?
My high school teacher called the reason "sloppy writing."
EmmettRedd said:
My high school teacher called the reason "sloppy writing."
so is it ok to write this way? as it is often in published stories etc.
I agree with EmmettRedd, and also consider it "sloppy writing." But then, I only write non-fiction where the style bar is set higher.
However, when I read fiction, I see that done frequently. I suppose in fiction, a change in tense can provide some creative flexibility, and that seems to be the way I see it used. I guess that could be a good thing, in one sense, but I still don't like it.