[b]What is a tense?[/b]

It will be easier to show what a tense is than to explain it.

[indent]I play[u]ed[/u] tennis – past tense, event happened prior to narration[/indent]
[indent]I am play[u]ing[/u] tennis – present tense, event happens at the same time as narration[/indent]
[indent]I [u]will[/u] play tennis – future tense, event will happen after the time of narration[/indent]

The action word, or [b]verb[/b], in these sentences is a simple one (to play), but it's used in three different forms to give information about [i]when[/i] or, in what [u]timeframe[/u] the action is taking place. These forms are called tenses.

You use tenses all the time and you almost certainly know how to use them in your native language. The thing is, you may not be used to consciously thinking about them while writing, and I often see mistakes creep into people's writing, where their writing is otherwise great.

RP convention is that players write in third person ([i]He or she[/i], rather than [i]I[/i], played tennis) past tense. The past timeframe is common in fiction, as it gives a sense of authority and matter-of-factness. These events happened. The present timeframe is also quite common in (more modern) fiction, but it has a sense of immediacy and intimacy instead. The future timeframe is much rarer.

[b]How does this affect me?[/b]

Verbs are the actions in our sentences, and so we tend to use a lot of them. They make up what our sentences actually mean and, every time one is used, it is in a different form. If you don't pay attention to the tenses of your verbs, you can end up giving the wrong information. At worst, this can cause confusion, because your sentence may not actually say what you want it to. However, it's more likely that mistakes in tense-usage will simply cause inconsistent time frames and be jarring for the reader. While being a complete tense master, if such a title exists, won't necessarily improve your writing that much, complete ignorance of tenses will make your writing unpleasant to read and incoherent in extreme cases.

[indent]Peter went into the kitchen. He searched through the shelves and cupboards to find some cornflakes, but there weren't any. There had to be some somewhere! He gets out his spoon in anticipation. Eventually, some turned up (hidden behind the milk) and he ate them happily.[/indent]

One of the verbs in this passage is in the wrong tense. It doesn't fit in with the others. That verb is 'gets'. Here, the passage is all written in past tenses, to indicate that the events happened in the past, with the exception of 'gets', which is in the present tense – even though the getting happened in the same chronological sequence as the other events. In this sense, you could consider it like a simple typo; while the reader can still make sense out of what you have written, leaving these mistakes in your writing can feel amateurish and puts responsibility on the reader to mentally correct your grammar before being able to enjoy the story.

[b]What can I do?[/b]

Honestly, if you're not sure that you're using tenses correctly, the simple and easiest thing for you to do is proofread your work. You should do that anyway. If you're writing in your first language, [i]you already know this stuff[/i]! Your instinct should be able to guide you through – just find the verbs in your passages and ask yourself [i]when[/i] does it say the action took place – before, at the same time, or after your narration?

If you're still not sure, feel free to send me a PM to spot-check your stuff and point out any mistakes you've made.

[b]Disclaimer[/b]

A tense is a complex grammatical system, and there are lots of them. Lots and lots and lots of them, and many of them don't translate properly into different languages, even in closely-related languages. Essentially, what I'm saying is that if you want a real expert in what tenses are and what they do, you will need to talk to a proper linguist. While I'm confident in my English to have instinct cover those parts of grammar I can't label and analyse and deconstruct and teach, I can't give you a beginner's crash course in tenses.