Unintended tense shifts

Tense Tina

“Lives in yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Simultaneously.”

What's the problem?

Keep a clear time frame, and change tense when the meaning calls for it. A past event and a present situation can belong in the same sentence: ‘I grew up in Ohio, but I live in Texas now.’ Different verb forms can also show how events relate: ‘I was studying when the phone rang.’ Tina targets accidental shifts that confuse the intended timeline. Deliberate present-tense storytelling and the literary present are different conventions.

Context: The writer is recounting a completed lecture in the past tense.

✗ Gremlin-infested

During the lecture, the professor showed a video and then asks us to discuss it.

✓ Fixed

During the lecture, the professor showed a video and then asked us to discuss it.

Why it works

Both actions happened in the same past lecture, so both verbs belong in the past tense.