Table of contents in the present or in the past?

instagram viewer

Do you need to write a synopsis for school or university and don't know whether to do it in the present or the past? Then some advice will help you.

Summary - a common and unpopular homework assignment

Both at school and at university, contents are often given as homework. The reasons for this are obvious: On the one hand, you can add one to every fictitious text summary write, on the other hand one helps one Table of contentsto look back at what happened in the factory. But nobody really likes to write synopsis. Most consider it unnecessary and a waste of time, if only because of the formal requirements. Contents should never be longer than one page and also be written in a certain form, if only for the use of the present and the past. If you're struggling to correctly apply content delivery times, some advice will help.

Correctly accommodating the present and the past succeeds in this way

  • Basically: A table of contents is always written in the present, i.e. in the present tense. The reason for this is very simple: the summary is primarily intended to be practical and easy to use Be writing, and it makes writing (and reading) much easier if you don't have past tenses must form.
  • Basically, sentences in a synopsis sound like this: "The young Olivier falls madly in love with Madelon, the goldsmith's daughter."
  • However, it cannot be ruled out that you will have to use past tenses in a summary. This is always the case when you describe events that preceded the events in the story or lie to the book.
  • For example: "Before Olivier Cardillac became an apprentice, he lived in poor conditions."
    • Contents of short stories - this is how you get the essentials out of texts

    Contents of short stories accompany every student, regardless of which ...

  • Also, if you want to point out events in the work that occurred before the current point, you must use the past instead of the present.
  • For example, it says: "Olivier goes to jail voluntarily to protect Madelon, with whom he fell in love a while ago."

Conclusion: Basically, table of contents is written in the present tense - however, there are always exceptions.

click fraud protection