ShmoopTube

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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by kitty shampoo. Because sometimes kitty

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spit just isn't enough.

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Check out the following passage.

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How would you correct the following underlined portion from the passage? Does it need correcting?

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Although this is a tense question, we'll need to rely on context. Because the cat continues

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to prefer the great indoors in the present, the attempt to avoid washing the cat occurs

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in the present tense as well.

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This means we can eliminate choice (A), since the word "tried" is in the past tense.

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That "ed" ending gives it away every time.

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Choice (C) is also a no. "Have tried" is in the present perfect tense, not the simple

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present that we need.

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We use the present perfect when we're talking about things that occurred at an unspecified

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time in the past. Though that might apply here, it doesn't jibe with the verb tense

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in the sentence that follows. So ultimately (C) is incorrect.

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Choice (D) is incorrect as well because "have been trying" is in the present perfect continuous

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tense. We use the present perfect continuous to show that an action started in the past,

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is going on now, and may continue on into the future. Sure, the chances are that this

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cat-owner will still be trying to avoid washing her cat in the days to come...

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But again this doesn't match the simple past tense of the following sentence.

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The correct answer is (B), since "try" is in the simple present tense.

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We always attempt to avoid washing cats, so the present tense makes plenty of sense here.?

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