Hi! Is it right to use the simple present tense for the verb 'experience' here?

The story follows a talented college girl who, despite wining multiple scholarships and having strong writing skills, eventually __experiences__ a mental breakdown.

Question

Hi! Is it right to use the simple present tense for the verb 'experience' here?

The story follows a talented college girl who, despite wining multiple scholarships and having strong writing skills, eventually __experiences__ a mental breakdown.

Answer

Yes. It's correct. When relating the plot of a book, film, TV show, etc. present simple is generally used.

Answer

Your sentence is correct. Notice that it's just consistent: "The story 'follows'... eventually 'experiences'..."

As has already been mentioned by someone else, this is what's called a "literary present" which is when the present tense is used in literary contexts like: summarize plots or events in stories, books, films, biographies, etc.

Answer

Yes. Stripped of all its adjectives and subordinate clauses the sentence is

"The story follows a girl who eventually experiences a mental breakdown."

and that sounds perfect.  Present tense can be used for present, future, and timeless events:

"I see a dog"    (present)
"Tomorrow I see a dog"      (future, because of "tomorrow")
"Sometimes I see a dog"     (timeless)

For your sentence, you have many other choices:

"The story follows a girl who eventually will experience a mental breakdown."
"The story follows a girl who eventually experienced a mental breakdown."
"The story follows a girl who could eventually experience a mental breakdown."

All are correct, but Simple Present would be the default unless you had some reason for saying it a different way.

Answer

Claire gave an excellent answer. In English, book plots and movie plots are usually given in the present simple.

For more information, search for "narrative present" and "historic present" in your grammar references.

Here is an excerpt from a well-known net encyclopedia whose name starts with W. [italki will ban me for seven days if I include a link.]

excerpt
In linguistics and rhetoric, the historical present or historic present, also called dramatic present or narrative present, is the employment of the present tense instead of past tenses when narrating past events. It is typically thought to heighten the dramatic force of the narrative by describing events as if they were still unfolding, and/or by foregrounding some events relative to others.

[excerpt]
In English, it is used in:

historical chronicles (listing a series of events),
fiction,
news headlines, and
everyday conversation, when recounting events as dramatized stories.

[excerpt]
Novels that are written entirely in the historical present include notably John Updike's Rabbit, Run, Hilary Mantel's Wolf Hall and Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale.

Answer

Hello Shana - yes, it is right.  This is a specific use of the simple present for telling stories in a short form, notably in summaries like the example you give here.  Another example of its use is in 'story' jokes.  As in

A horse _walks_ into a bar.  The barman _says_, "why the long face?"

I hope that makes sense?  Sometimes (especially in recent years) it is also used for full-length novels.

Answers · 9

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