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One Paragraph, One Time
Five sand-timers, two of them turned.
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Five timers, one paragraph. Two of them turned without anyone deciding.
Learner holds one time frame across a paragraph and shifts deliberately when the content requires it.
Preview · progress not saved — Chapter 1 is free
The chapter assembled, and why a shift is not a fault.
1. What time is this paragraph in?
2. Does every verb belong to it?
3. Where it changes, did I mean it?
4. Is a frame broken — a conditional, a perfect, a passive?
Question one first: you cannot spot a drift without knowing what it drifted from.
Five sand-timers, two of them turned.
Five timers, one paragraph. Two of them turned without anyone deciding.
Four chains. One needs no repair.
1. When the factory closed in 2011, many families move away and the school loses half its pupils.
What time is this in?
The repair:
2. If fees will rise again, fewer students will apply.
Which half is broken?
The repair:
3. The library was built in 1954 and still serves the whole district.
Is the change of time deliberate?
The repair:
4. Rents have risen sharply in 2019, and tenants have been leaving ever since.
Which time expression is the problem?
The repair:
Twelve verbs. Five are already correct.
Written about a town the writer left in 2011.
When the paper mill close () in 2011, the town lose () four hundred jobs in a single week. Families who have () worked there for three generations move () away within the year.
The mill building be () demolished in 2014. The site stand () empty ever since, although the council announce () three separate redevelopment plans since then. None of them happen ().
If the last plan be () approved next year, construction start () in 2027. Nobody in the town expect () it to. The place be () quieter now than it was when I was a child.
Four sentences, reported back by tense fault.
Prompt: In many countries, traditional industries have closed and people have moved to cities. What effects has this had, and what could be done?
Write four sentences giving your view.
You will need more than one time frame. Choose each one deliberately.
Four sentences.
Count the changes and say which you meant.