Why you should write in the present tense

Thanks to Rosemary Shannon-Snead for recommending this blog topic. If you have writing questions, please submit them to kim.siever@hotpepper.ca.

One way to build engagement with your blog readers is to write in the present tense.

There’s an immediacy to the present tense, and if you do it right, the readers can feel like they’re participating in the experience with you.

Consider this ad:

Retina Display. The sharpest, most vibrant, highest-resolution phone screen ever. Thanks to the Retina display, everything you see and do on iPhone 4 looks amazing. Text in books, web pages, and email is crisp at any size. Images in moves and photos are stunning at almost any angle. That’s because the Retina display’s pixel density is so high, your eye is unable to distinguish individual pixels.

 

Because Apple uses the present tense, it describes it’s phone in a way that helps the reader imagine using one.

Unless you’re writing a novel or publishing the results of a study you did, you should focus on writing in the present tense. Doing so engages your reader by building within them a sense of immediacy and urgency, and it helps move your copy along to your (hopefully) climatic conclusion.

Published
Categorised as Writing

By Kim Siever

I am a copywriter and copyeditor. I blog on writing and social media tips mostly, but I sometimes throw in my thoughts about running a small business. Follow me on Twitter at @hotpepper.