I’m Bewildered by this Grammatical Rule

Does grammar confuse you?

I’m an English major, but some grammatical rules seriously befuddle me. And some of them I don’t even care about.

But there’s one grammatical problem that always stumps me:

Use simple present tense for general truths, habits, and unchanging situations.

Fiction stories are often narrated in past tense. So what do you do when you state some general truth? Should you switch to present tense, or stay in past tense?

For example: “Jaylen came to visit us one day. His brother died too young, poor thing, so he wanted us to raise the dead. But necromancy is forbidden.”

Should it be “is” forbidden or “was” forbidden? Necromancy won’t be legalized anytime soon, so it would be an unchanging situation. Yet, would the switch to present tense be jarring?

I have no idea, so I just use whatever tense I feel like in the moment.

That’s not what an English major should say, right? But that’s what I honestly do.

Enlightening Answers From Reddit

So I got curious and Googled this question. I found a Reddit post that tackles this very issue.

The asker was writing a novel. In one passage, they make a universal statement.

At first, they wrote it in the past tense like the rest of the narrative, but it didn’t feel right. So they switched to present tense, and it felt much better.

But they worried that the tense jump would be off-putting to readers. What should they do?

The answers to this post were thought-provoking.

One commenter said that for adages and idioms, they should be in present tense, because they’re outside of the narrative and are timeless. The past tense implies that the event is complete and over.

So you should use present tense for universal statements like, “The early bird gets the worm.”

If a character was early and succeeded in doing something, saying “the early bird got the worm” would sound weird. That’s because the character has completed their action, but the idiom doesn’t stop being true.

Another commenter quoted Jane Austen’s famous opening for Pride and Prejudice:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.

Some sentences later, Austen switches to the past tense when narrating the actual story.

In other words, this is not tense hopping. It’s just breaking the fourth wall, and then slipping back into the narrative.

Further Angles to the Problem

Here’s another odd example that someone brought up:

In Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris, the author described Hannibal Lecter’s appearance in the present tense.

Dr Lecter’s eyes are maroon and they reflect the light in pinpoints of red. Sometimes the points of light seem to fly like sparks to the center.

Most of the story is in past tense, so the sudden switch into present tense here is eerie — it implies that Hannibal Lecter is a universal truth outside of time itself.

Several commenters said that it depends on your style, intention, context, etc. Just make sure you don’t confuse the reader.

One person mentioned Cormac McCarthy as a famous writer who plays around with tense. But they don’t recommend that the asker do this.

Finally, a professional copy editor said that they’re glad the asker is thinking critically about their usage. In their opinion, most people are like savages with their grammar, and do whatever they like.

They admitted that they had to edit their own work heavily, too. They can know all the rules and still write like a “lawless grammar heathen.”

Wow, I admire their determination to stick to their grammatical principles.

Later, I dug back into an old book that had a memorable tense switch from past to present.

A Spine-Chilling Example from a French Novel

Emile Zola’s classic novel, Thérèse Raquin, is told in past tense.

But right before a murder scene, the author switches to present tense, as if freezing that frightful moment:

Nothing looks more painfully calm than an autumn twilight. The sun rays pale in the quivering air, the old trees cast their leaves. The country, scorched by the ardent beams of summer, feels death coming with the first cold winds. And, in the sky, there are plaintive sighs of despair. Night falls from above, bringing winding sheets in its shade.

Scary, right? I love the suspenseful, thrilling atmosphere. There’s a reason why Emile Zola is one of my favorite French classic authors!

Zola arrests our attention with this ominous, still scene. It’s as if time has stopped. The world holds its breath in this final moment before the murder.

When I first read this passage, I only noticed the dramatic effect of the switch to present tense. But now that I reread it, I realize that Zola was describing the “universal truth,” that an autumn twilight looks like impending death.

My Last Reflections

It was illuminating to read that Reddit thread, and then to ruminate on Zola’s novel.

Here’s what I got from all this:

1. Use present tense to show something as true even outside of the narrative. E.g. A proverb, the author’s philosophy, a legendary villain’s appearance, or even a terrifying natural phenomenon.
2. But maybe the tense doesn’t matter as long as it sounds right to the ear.
3. Technically there’s a rule, but we’re not sure what it is. But some writers break the rules anyway and readers still love them. Some people still insist on grammatical rules, though.

So what are we supposed to do? What a mixed picture about whether to use present or past tense.

I suspect even grammar experts won’t all agree.

It makes me wonder why we should even bother with grammatical rules, if different people like different things.

After all, the point of having grammar, is to make our words understandable and enjoyable to readers, right?

If readers already understand and like what we write, then why should we worry?

I shouldn’t stress about something as small as using present or past tense for a general truth in fiction.

Do you agree that we fuss too much about grammar, when we could just chill and use whatever helps us communicate with readers?

If you want more thought-provoking stories about grammar and fiction writing, let’s stay in touch!