上週提到「統一人稱」的重要性，這週要談很多人很困擾的時態。
可能受限於中文思考模式，臺灣學生常寫出動詞時態不一致的文章，第一段描述用的是現在簡單式、下一段卻變成過去完成式等等。
其實學測及指考的作文題目常要求考生回顧過往發生的一些事情，例如：97年學測的第一段要求考生「說明遺失朋友物品的經過」、95年指考的第一段要求考生「描述自己被誤解的經驗」。因此平時練習時便必須培養整篇文章都已過去式書寫的能力。
除了人稱以外，寫作時最好也不要在「時態」上做不必要的變更。讓我們來瞧瞧這個例子：
(X) When I was a child, my father asks me to memorize several ancient poems every day. It is a tough job for me, because it was very hard for a little child to recite so many poems in such a short time. Because of this, my father is constantly disappointed with me.
很混亂的時態，不是嗎？既然這篇文章是在描述一件以前發生過的事，便應該盡量使用過去式：
(✓) When I was a child, my father used to ask me to memorize several ancient poems every day. It was a tough job for me, because it was very hard for a little child to recite so many poems in such a short time. Because of this, my father was constantly disappointed with me.
小時候我爸爸曾要求我每天背誦幾首古詩。這對我而言很辛苦，因為要一個小孩子在這麼短時間被那麼多的詩是很困難的。也因此爸爸總是對我感到失望。
本文摘錄自《學測指考英文作文：黃玟君教你高分寫作技巧﹝增訂版﹞》
