0

Currently, I am writing a statement of purpose for the graduate program, and I want to describe my research experience. In particular, I want to write the following sentence:

I determined that the electromagnetic force is the main type of interaction between the droplets.

At the same time, I was recently corrected that the proper way would be to write

I determined that the electromagnetic force was the main type of interaction between the droplets.

as dictated by the "sequence of tenses" rule.

However, for me, it does not sound right. This phrasing creates a feeling that "the electromagnetic force was the main type of interaction between the droplets" somewhere in the distant past, and now it is not.

I read somewhere on the web that "sequence of tenses" may be violated in some occasions (for instance, while describing widely known scientific facts, e.g. "Newton discovered that the planets attract each other"). Would it be okay to violate "sequence of tenses", when describing my own scientific finding?

The other example that I am interested in is whether I should use

I understood how interesting it is to study physics.

or

I understood how interesting it was to study physics.

SpinningCat
  • 123
  • It might not sound right to you, but native speakers routinely "backshift" the relevant verb in contexts like *I understood that Greenland was cold, I told him my name was X, She could see that I was a male*, etc., where the situation being asserted remains true at time of utterance. – FumbleFingers Nov 27 '17 at 18:40
  • Not sure it's the duplicate mentioned by @FumbleFingers, but must have been asked before in an academic context. As I can't find it I'll suggest the poster may find this university style guide helpful. By the way, "widely known scientific facts" is not really appropriate — "universal truths" is the way it's more often expressed. If your observations in the past reveal a universal (if minor) truth, then it will not be "widely known" but I would still use the present. – David Nov 27 '17 at 20:35
  • 3
    Possible duplicate of He didn't know where New Jersey was and Sequence of Tense – Edwin Ashworth Nov 28 '17 at 00:53
  • @David: I don't think "universal truths" is necessarily relevant here. Idiomatically, it's the same process in, say, *I told him I was hungry* (temporary past state) and *I told him I was British* (human mortality aside, a timeless/permanent state). – FumbleFingers Nov 28 '17 at 13:14
  • @FumbleFingers — I agree with you regarding general usage, and this is covered in the previous question Edwin mentions. I'm interested in scientific usage from a person point of view, and I quoted the guide I found from a quick search because its advice was consistent with my own practice. But usage is all, so when I have a moment I'll try to compile examples (of both styles) in papers (other than my own) in my subject area and add them as a (partial) answer to the original question. To satisfy myself, if nobody else. – David Nov 28 '17 at 22:20
  • @David: I can't say exactly why (perhaps it's specifically to avoid having to deal with the tense issue you've raised here), but personally I think I'd simply avoid the problem altogether by rephrasing to, say, I identified [the] electromagnetic force as* the main type of interaction...* Of course, one of the most notable ways "formal, scientific, academic" writing differs from "natural" English is the marked tendency to avoid first person references (leading to obfuscation through overuse of passive forms). But I see OP here obviously hasn't gone down that route! :) – FumbleFingers Nov 29 '17 at 16:21

0 Answers0