Why is consistent verb tense important when summarizing a news article?

• A. It allows for flashy writing style.
• B. It helps maintain clarity and chronology; inconsistent tense can confuse when events occurred.
• C. It makes the summary shorter.
• D. It is not important as long as the facts are correct.

Answer: (B)

Consistent verb tense keeps the timeline clear. When you summarize a news article, you’re recounting events in the order they happened, so using the same tense helps readers follow what occurred and when. If you shift tenses, it can blur the sequence or imply that past events are ongoing, which confuses the reader about the timing and attribution of actions. This is why clarity and a steady chronology are the main reasons to keep tense consistent. The other ideas—making the writing flashier, shortening the summary, or deeming tense unimportant if facts are correct—don’t address how readers actually track when things happened.