Out of tense or not?

Exir · May 30, 2008

I'm wondering if the following sentence is out of tense in a past tense narrative

When I was five, I did something that everybody thought was stupid. Whenever the trickle of gossip that always flows from person to person begins to thin, people would talk about what I did to the Hynemans. They talked about it so much that they were unable to laugh any longer.

The truth is, they were the stupid ones.

[FONT=Courier New, monospace]So, was that last sentence out of tense? I tried "The truth was", but that just sounded silly.
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Mumut · May 30, 2008

I find 'the truth is' sounds better.

ErylRavenwell · May 30, 2008

Truth is. The narrative is in the first person and you're narrating from the present, although the events are in the past. A truth is supposed to be true at any time as well.

Sandi LeFaucheur · May 31, 2008

I thought

Whenever the trickle of gossip that always flows from person to person begins to thin,

was out of tense, being in the present. Didn't have a problem with "the truth is".

ErylRavenwell · Jun 2, 2008

Sandi LeFaucheur said:
I thought was out of tense, being in the present. Didn't have a problem with "the truth is".

I didn't see that. Yes, that's asynchronous. I think Exir thinks because of "always" then the tense should be present. That's not usually the case in a narrative set in the past. For instance, you can use "now", which is usually associated with the present continuous, in the past.

For example:

He ran up the hill, and on its crest he could now see the ship setting out to sea.

IceCreamEmpress · Jun 2, 2008

Exir said:
When I was five, I did something that everybody thought was stupid. Whenever the trickle of gossip that always flows from person to person begins

Should be "began" here.

to thin, people would talk about what I did to the Hynemans. They talked about it so much that they were unable to laugh any longer.

Click to expand...

The truth is, they were the stupid ones.

[FONT=Courier New, monospace]So, was that last sentence out of tense? I tried "The truth was", but that just sounded silly.
[/FONT]

Nope, that's fine.

Out of tense or not?

Exir

Out of the cradle endlessly rocking

Mumut

Well begun is half done...

ErylRavenwell

Sandi LeFaucheur

ErylRavenwell

IceCreamEmpress

Hapless Virago