Is it okay to use different tenses in this way?
Try to find an area where science isn't needed, where experiments weren't perfomed.
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IEVGEN
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2Okay? Yes, although many may prefer to use have not been. But the question is whether it says what you want it to? To me it sounds like present tense would be best throughout. – user0721090601 Sep 17 '14 at 21:55
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1Yes, and all past tense would be fine, too. – Marc Rochkind Sep 17 '14 at 22:00
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Related. – tchrist Jan 29 '23 at 14:55
2 Answers
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You can also say the whole sentence in present tense: "Try to find an area where science isn't needed, where experiments aren't perfomed." to keep the consistency. Although your version is just fine too.
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Certainly two different tenses is perfectly fine, and in fact, changing the second to present tense, as was suggested, would completely change it's meaning. As written, the implication is there are areas where experiments were simply not performed. If you change this to aren't performed, it implies that as a rule, experiments are not performed in this area.
DJ Far
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