Final answer:
The text maintains a consistent verb tense as it describes the adherence of a hypothetical text to certain editorial guidelines; no evidence of an inappropriate shift in verb tense is presented within the context of these statements.
Step-by-step explanation:
To determine if the text contains an inappropriate shift in verb tense, we must look for consistency within the provided statements. From the sentences, it is clear that there is no explicit statement of verb tense change, rather, each sentence is a statement about a text's adherence or lack thereof to certain editorial focuses.
There is mention of both verb tense consistency (Section 5.6) and the literary present tense (Section 16.6), but these statements describe the content or guidelines of a chapter, not the actions within a story or an analysis that would require maintaining a particular verb tense. Since no actual shift in verb tense between actions within a single context is presented, there does not seem to be an inappropriate shift in verb tense. The answer is therefore b) No, the text maintains consistent verb tense.