Question

Which sentence has a verb tense shift error?

A) All of the cars in the parking lot today are parked illegally.
B) Kristoff worked hard on his diet, but he could not resisted snacking.
C) Marcia's lecture on the Ming Dynasty made the front page of the newspaper.
D) Sherel poured herself her third cup of coffee, without apology, and drank it.

Answer 1

The correct answer and the sentence that has a verb tense shift error is B) Kristoff worked hard on his diet, but he could not resisted snacking.

The verb tense shift error is located in the clause "could not resisted". The use of "could" as a modal verb or auxiliary verb impliying capacity in this context requires the main verb "resisted" to go in the present tense since the modal verb already locates the action in the past.

In order to solve this verbe tense error shif, the sentence should have been written "Kristoff worked hard on his diet, but he could not resist snacking.

Answer 2

Based on the given sentences above, the one that has a verb tense shift error is sentence B. This is because of the wrong use of the word resisted. Since "could not" is already used, the verb should no longer take the -ed form, and just retain the base form of the word which is "resist". The "could not" already takes the past form of the word to be parallel to the first verb "worked hard".