Verb tense consistency in a sentence

Question

I learned that we do not shift tenses between sentences unless there is a time change that must be shown. I have two examples below that I'm not sure whether they're grammatically correct or not.

I was taught by my father, who is very patient.

(Being "Patient" is my father's personality, and it still exists now.

Should I use 'is' or 'was' for the above sentence?)

Objects that characterize the street scenes in my country were taken into account.

(The context for the sentence above is that I already collected the data in my country a couple of months ago, and I'm describing objects existing in my data in my writing. In my opinion, the phrase 'Objects that characterize the street...' is a factual piece of information, and so I use the present tense, although I'm using the past tense for my paragraph. Am I using it in the right way?)

Does this answer your question? "I didn't know you liked her" or "I didn't know you like her" — Edwin Ashworth, Jan 24 '21 at 16:39
As usual, a question that starts out "I know that" states a false rule and then finds problems. There is no such rule, so it can't be known. The problem is with the presuppositions. — John Lawler, Jan 24 '21 at 23:33
Is 'very patient' idiomatic? Not sure if 'patient' functions as a noun or an adjective here. I would have considered, ...., who is a chronic patient/ who is very much a patient, or so. I might be wrong too. — Ram Pillai, Jan 25 '21 at 09:42
Have a look at my answer to a related question. It’s not the tense that remains constant - it’s the ‘now’, and even that can sometimes change. — Lawrence, Jan 25 '21 at 12:05

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Jan 24 '21 at 10:15

Your question may be based on a misunderstanding of a 'rule' that was poorly or not fully explained.

It is unusual to shift the tense from one clause or sentence to the next in a narrative. But in general, the tense (verb construction) is chosen on a clause-by-clause basis to accurately represent the time frame of the action or state. In other words, the tense in the first clause does not determine the tense in the second clause.

Your sentences are grammatical and clearly distinguish between past events (your father's teaching / 'the taking into account' of your research) and present or continuing states (your father's patience / common objects in street scenes).

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 24 '21 at 09:32

Someone's being patient is a trait of theirs, and so your first sentence is correct as far as the correct use of tenses goes.

Similar logic applies to your second sentence: Objects that characterize the street scenes is a phrase that the sentence makes it known to us are a part and parcel of the streets of the country. And because you say the study was conducted in the past, use of the past simple is justified.

On a separate note, Objects doesn't look a proper word to me in the given context. Maybe, you should write instead problems/parameters/factors, or some such word as the context dictates.

On the whole, you are justified in your logic.

Verb tense consistency in a sentence

2 Answers2