Grimmer Girl, here I'm Mignon Fogredy and you can think of me as your friendly guide to

the English language, writing, history, rules, and cool stuff.

Today, I have a segment about how to use verb tense in your essays, and a listener

question about the poop emoji that made me laugh but that I'll also answer seriously,

because that's how we roll.

Let's get started.

The poop-below husband is the author of Gods with a Little G, and also to just composition

at Santa Monica College in California State University East Bay.

She uses Grimmer Girl in her classroom and shared this advice she gives to students about

how to use tense in essays.

Tense is almost always an issue and this is sad.

Here's a tissue.

What tense should you write in?

The answer is mystifying but it can be absorbed, I promise.

Reflexible.

You should always write in the past tense when you're speaking of a historical event.

That's obvious.

You should always write in the present tense when you're speaking of a text, any text,

and for many people this is the tricky part.

However, this idea is essential.

Whatever is happening in a text is happening forever.

The action is never finished.

...