Number and tense agreement

My husband and I would like to talk to you for a moment about number and tense agreement. There have been times in life when these were the only relationships in which there was agreement.

Number agreement

Every noun-verb relationship should agree in number. That is, in any given sentence, a singular noun takes a singular verb and plural noun take plural verbs.

Note, for example, the following:

A weekly status report is on the table.
All weekly status reports are on the table.

One attachment accompanies this letter.
Ten attachments accompany this letter.

Groups of related sentences should share number agreement. That is, if you refer to something as plural at the beginning of a paragraph (users, WTS items, challenges, …), you should still refer to them as plural at the end.

Tense agreement

Every sentence in a single body of text (letter, report, email, …) should share the same tense (sense of time).

If you're writing in the present tense, use verbs in the present form (come, see, conquer); in the past tense, use verbs in the past form (came, saw, conquered.)

This rule is not hard and fast: sometimes you have to mix past and present, or present and future, tenses. The following sentence mixes tenses:

If you enter a future date, the system will display an error message.

And, alas, these images also mix past and present:

As a general principle, tense consistency makes your writing clearer and easier to read.

Use the simple present tense (call, copy, export, email, enter, read, …) as much as possible because this is the most common form of speech and therefore the most familiar to your readers.

When you use the simple present tense, your readers are more likely to concentrate on what you say rather than how you say it – the message, not the medium.

Rules of thumb

• Use singular verbs with singular nouns and plural verbs with plural nouns.
• Use the simple present tense in most of your business writing.
• Use the same tense for all sentences in a single body of text.

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