Tense Harmony

Designs like writings must be harmonious to reflect their themes/meanings.





Earlier, Lim said the change promised by the state government since taking over after the March 8 general election last year was not rhetoric, but something that can be seen, felt and touch.

The above is a sentence/paragraph taken from a news item in a popular national English daily.

It has a failure in tense hormony. The last word 'touch' should be in the past participle. Hence, the whole sentence/paragraph should have been, "Earlier, Lim said the change promised by the state government since taking over after the March 8 general election last year was not rhetoric, but something that can be seen, felt and touched.

Below is another one taken from the same newspaper. This time it is from an advertisement. Pay attention to the words highlighted by me in bold and the one in italics.

Last weekend, I just stayed home and swam, sailed, walked along the promenade, shopped, had lunch by the marina, watch a yacht sailed by, snoozed, read a book before enjoying a quiet dinner for two on the verandah of my home.

It is a compound sentence with all the words in bold being verbs in the past tense except the word in italics being a verb in the present tense. The verb in the present tense is out of place and should be in the past tense also.

There is only one thing worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.
-- Oscar Wilde