Help Please SAT Test Tom...Two Confusing Writing Questions!

WasatchWriter
Fri, 01 May 2015 17:50:38 +0000

“Forglets’ offspring” is not an option, so you don’t have to worry about it. But it should not be froglets’ offspring. The “-let” suffix in English means something like “children” or “small ones,” so in one word it already means “frogs’ offspring.”

On the second one, it is normal for a sentence to use multiple tenses as long as the point of view is consistent. In a simple example, you will probably see there is no problem if I write, “The children hope they will succeed.” “Hope” is in the present, and “will succeed” is in the future. It makes sense because people normally have hopes about the future.

Your example is only a little more complicated. To understand it, you have to imagine the television viewers as they are right now. From this point of view, growing up is in the past. The viewers’ opinions exist now and will continue into the future.

Note that it is characteristic of English to use the future tense to describe a state that exists in the present and which will exist in the future also. When I say, “I will always love honey,” I mean that I love honey now and will continue to love it.