Chapter 13; “Rules for Writers”, Eliminate Distracting Shifts

Making the point of view consistent in person and number in which it is written is; first person (I or we), second person (you), third person (he, she, it, or they). “I” is used for point of view of the writer and used for informal letters. The “you” which is the reader is good for giving advice. “He, she, it or they” point of view, is third person and emphasizes the subject and used for formal academic and professional writing. The text says that settling on a point of view, whether 1st, 2nd, or 3rd person may sometimes shift from on to another. The solution is to choose a suitable perspective and stay with it throughout your writing. The other main points of Chapter 13 are, maintaining consistent verb tenses, making verbs consistent in mood and voice, and avoiding sudden shifts from indirect to direct questions or quotations.
On page 106, it says consistent verb tense is important in establishing timing of actions and when the writer shifts from one tense in the beginning and then another at the end the reader becomes distracted. Writing about literature can be more difficult because fictional events happen outside the time frames of real life, meaning past tense and present tense may be equally appropriate. There are three moods in English; indicative (factual, opinion, and questions), imperative, (used for order or advice), and subjunctive, (used to express wishes or conditions contrary to fact). A verb may be in active voice with the subject doing the action or a passive voice where the subject is receiving. It would be easy to confuse the reader and leave them wondering what happened without a warning. Examples of this are on page 107. Avoiding sudden shifts from indirect to direct questions and quotations in the same sentence are impossible to punctuate because indirect questions must end in a period and direct questions must end with a question mark. Indirect questions reports a question without asking it. A direct question asks directly.
Making the point of view consistent in my writing was something I had to learn, I would get confused as to which way I wanted to go and so I went back and forth without realizing their were “rules”. This makes sense to me now and I am confident in how I address my papers. I have worked closely with my thesaurus in this class which has given me knowledge of verbs and the passive or active tense to use them. I can see my writing in this class has consistently gotten better with paying attention to the details we have learned in the “Rules for Writers” book.