Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

Sometimes it's important to use the same verb tense for your whole paragraph. For instance, if you write a paragraph about your morning routine, use simple present tense in each sentence of the paragraph. Here is an example of a paragraph written completely in the simple present tense (verbs are typed in red):

Every morning I awake at 7:00. First, I take a shower and dress. Then I eat breakfast and brush my teeth. After that I drive to work. I arrive by 9:00 a.m. and work for four hours. At 1:00 p.m., my work day is over. Sometime I run errands before I drive home. 

In some paragraphs, however, you have to change verb tenses now and then. If you are telling about your life, you will probably write about events in the past as well as information about your present life. Here is an example (present tense verbs are typed in red, but past tense verbs are in green):

My name is Pedro. I come from Mexico. I was born in Mexico City and lived there for 30 years. I came to the United States five years ago. I work part time at a grocery store and part time at a nursing home. In Mexico, I didn't complete high school. I want to return to school, and I plan to be a nurse.

Try this exercise from Englishmaven.org. Decide whether to use the present or the past tense of the verb to be. How do you decide? Look for time words in the sentence that show something happened in the past, such as yesterday, last night, when I was young, etc. These words or phrases are clues that you should use the past tense of to be. Use the present tense of to be to state facts and to refer to things that happen regularly (like habit or routine). Time words such as now and today also tell you to use the present tense.

My suggestion:  Click on the link below and try the exercise on the past and present tenses of the verb to be.

LINK: Deciding Whether to Use Present or Past Tense of "To Be"

You can also click on the following link for more information on using present versus past tense when writing.

LINK: Using Present or Past Tense in Narration