Is it ok to mix up first person past and present tense when you write?

Question: Is it ok to mix up first person past and present tense when you write!?

like this:

“Sure!.” I say!. After Chemistry there was Economics third, Anatomy fourth and Theater fifth!. Theater hadn’t been my first choice as an elective, and I tried to get my counselor to switch me into something less…dynamic, but she insisted that I’d start liking it over time!."Www@QuestionHome@Com

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker:

Hi there,

In this case, this is not acceptable, I'm afraid!. You confuse your reader by not making the temporal setting clear!. In the first sentence, you imply that the discussion is going on now, but the rest implies that the discussion occurred some time before now!. I would recommend simply changing the "I say" to "I said!."

Cheers
SWww@QuestionHome@Com

Its not acceptable because it confuses the reader and makes it difficult to read!. In some cases it is ok, but make sure that its easy to tell what tense the main focus is in!. It should be "Sure" I said!. Its confusing when you have present tense mixed with past!.

Hope this helped! Www@QuestionHome@Com