A shift in viewpoint happens when a writer changes person (for example from “students” to “you”), or tense (from past to present), without a reason. The reader feels the ground move. In most writing tasks you should choose one viewpoint and keep it, unless you change it on purpose.
This is the final skill in paragraph cohesion. It applies to arguments, narratives and descriptions alike.
What counts as a shift?
There are two kinds to watch for.
- Shift in person. The point of view moves between first person (I, we), second person (you) and third person (he, she, they, students, one). For example: “Students need breaks. If you study without rest, one loses focus.”
- Shift in tense. The action moves between past and present with no change in time. For example: “I walked into the hall and find my desk.”
Some shifts are correct. The tense changes when the time really changes (“I was tired, but now I feel calm”).
Direct speech can use its own person and tense. And a narrator may move deliberately between past and present for effect. The fault is a shift with no reason.
How do you repair one?
- Decide the viewpoint for the whole piece. In an argument for a school magazine this is often third person (“students”) or an inclusive “we”. In a personal narrative it is usually first person past.
- Mark the pronouns and verbs in one colour each as you reread.
- Find every place they change without a reason in time or speech.
- Rewrite those places to match, adjusting verbs and pronouns together.
Worked example
Students need regular breaks. If you study without rest, one loses focus, and we all make careless mistakes.
Step 1, choose the viewpoint. This is an argument, so third person (“students”) suits it.
Step 2, mark. The subjects are: students, you, one, we. That is four different viewpoints in one sentence pair.
Step 3, repair:
Students need regular breaks. When they study without rest, they lose focus and make careless mistakes.
Now there is one viewpoint, and the pronoun “they” refers clearly to “students”.
Here is a tense shift:
I walked into the hall and find my desk. The invigilator hands out the papers, and I turned mine over.
The action is in the past, so all verbs should match: “I walked”, “found”, “handed out”, “turned”.
I walked into the hall and found my desk. The invigilator handed out the papers, and I turned mine over.
The mistake to watch for
The usual slip is repairing only half of the problem.
Students need breaks. When they study without rest, you lose focus.
The writer fixed “one” and “we” but left “you” in the second sentence.
Shifts often travel in groups, so after repairing one, reread the whole paragraph aloud from the start. A second common slip is changing the pronoun but not the verb form, which produces “they loses focus”. Change pronouns and verbs together.
Check yourself
1. Find the shift and repair it: “A good writer plans carefully before you begin.”
Show answer
It moves from “a good writer” (third person) to “you” (second person). Repair: “A good writer plans carefully before beginning.” or “Good writers plan carefully before they begin.”
2. Find the shift and repair it: “We arrived at the market early. The stallholders are still setting up, and I bought a cup of tea.”
Show answer
The tense changes from past to present in “are still setting up”. Repair: “The stallholders were still setting up, and I bought a cup of tea.” The move from “we” to “I” is acceptable only if the narrator really separated from the group, so in an exam you could also write “we bought”.
3. Is the tense change correct? “I used to hate mornings, but now I look forward to them.”
Show answer
Yes. The time really changes, from the past habit to the present, and “but now” signals it. A change in tense with a reason is not a fault.
Where this leads next
You have now covered the five skills in this module. Try them all together in the paragraph cohesion practice set, and return to the lesson named in each explanation when a question catches you out. Sentence-level accuracy continues in sentence control.
If you keep shifting back after each repair, it is usually a habit that forms under time pressure, and a teacher can watch you write to see when it happens. That kind of live feedback is what online one-to-one English First Language tuition offers.