Switching tense

[laissez-faire]

OK I think we are all guilty of this, but how bad is it considered? Most people probably don't even spot it.

Example: 'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture and then I just got this text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!'

The tenses don't tie in the with the order of the events. Seems very common these days that when people are telling stories the tense jumps all over the place. Is it just accepted now or am I missing some kind of exemption rule?

 

[daz]

"I stayed in bed because I couldn't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture, and then I got a text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!"

Would be how I would say it. I'm not an expert on grammar/english usage, but that is my take on things as a reasonably educated person.

 

[Vonhelmet]

"I stayed in bed because I couldn't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture, and then I got a text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!"

Would be how I would say it. I'm not an expert on grammar/english usage, but that is my take on things as a reasonably educated person.

Yep, that's what I thunked as well.

 

[robmiller]

I wouldn't usually apply a rigorous standard to informal writing/speech, but I have no idea how the example in the OP could sound anything but wrong to a native speaker of English. Do people have no ear for language?

 

[laissez-faire]

It was just a text I got this morning from an American....

 

[Orcish-Horde]

Example: 'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture and then I just got this text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!'

'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture, then I just got this text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!'



Nothing wrong with it it just lacks a pause, I could be wrong about that as my english skills sucks.

 

[semi-pro waster]

Is it just accepted now or am I missing some kind of exemption rule?

It is accepted by me in that I can't be bothered to correct the mistake most of the time. I do still tend to notice though, I just mentally make the edit that daz did.

 

[jas72]

for me the OPs sentance is wrong and I regularly correct people (since I live abroad) if they make a simple mistake like that however getting at text like that would be considered perfect compared to most texts.

"OK so I stay in bed because I can't b bothered to get up 2 go 2 my lecture, then I just got this text 2 say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!"

 

[Fraggr]

When people tell stories and switch tense like that I find it helps make it more interesting somehow. It does make people sound slightly uneducated though. Doesn't bother me though.

 

[Angilion]

'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture, then I just got this text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!'



Nothing wrong with it it just lacks a pause, I could be wrong about that as my english skills sucks.

The mistake is in the tense - it's referring to something in the past, so it should be "I stayed in bed because I couldn't be bothered [...]" There's also a conflict in tenses - "I just got this text" indicates something which has already happened, i.e. past.

 

[Helium_Junkie]

'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture and then I get this text to say that the lecture is cancelled anyway!'

I try not to mix tenses, and if I catch myself doing it I try to correct myself, without feeling anything other than "oops, mispronounced that". When other people do it I don't generally care, or even notice

 

[Ben M]

Example: 'OK so I stay in bed because I can't be bothered to get up to go to my lecture and then I just got this text to say that the lecture was cancelled anyway!'

The lack of punctuation in that sentence is a lot worse than the changing of tenses.