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I'm not sure about the verb tense I should use here:

Run this definition so that the previous changes become/became visible.

I think the correct one is Present Simple but it sounds better with Past Simple.

utxeee
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  • General Reference. OP's text is clearly a sentence, since it starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop. It's irrelevant that we could grammatically include that string of words within a longer sentence such as "Did you run this definition so that the previous changes became* visible?"*, where past tense is valid. – FumbleFingers Aug 21 '12 at 23:12

2 Answers2

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Run this definition so that the previous changes become visible.

You'd use become, the sentence is in the present tense. Became is the PAST tense.

TheIrishGuy
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    Right. All imperatives are in the present tense, by definition. – John Lawler Jun 26 '12 at 14:28
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    @JohnLawler passing on this correction from user F.E.: "Imperatives are headed by the base form (i.e. plain form) of a verb -- not by a present tense form of a verb. This can be seen when the verb BE is used. That is, the imperative is NOT in present-tense." as commented here: http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/196806/if-we-become-friends-or-became-or-were-to-become?noredirect=1#comment414906_196806 – semantax Sep 17 '14 at 03:06
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become is used in the following context

Run this definition so that the previous changes become visible

and became is used like this :-

Ran this definition so that the previous changes became visible

Halo
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