Editing Talk:High School DxD (section)

===Narration===

What tenses should the narration in this light novel be? Past tense? -[[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 21:16, 7 January 2012 (CST)
      good question. i noticed alot of inconsistencies, like "i am so happy..." and "i was about to dance..." in the same paragraph. 
i'm not super skilled in grammar, but imho, the past tense reads more smoothly. books tend to use it alot for narration.
P.S. wow, so many editors for this project. well, honestly it needs them.  --[[User:Idiffer|Idiffer]] 15:47, 13 January 2012 (CST)

Just an opinion here, but present tense tends to work better for this novel.  
This is because the main character's narration merges seamlessly with his thoughts and instant reactions.  Flipping back and forth between present and past tense is particularly cumbersome and prone to inconsistencies, especially since thoughts are expressed directly.  

For example, there's no {"xyz", I think to myself} kind of construction where you can change the action (thinking) to past tense.

"I thought to myself" would the past tense form of that. I believe this issue has been discussed about in the Baka-Tsuki forum, if not then just post it there. The forum link is found on the main page for High School DxD, under the heading Feedback. The general consensus is that past tense should be used. --[[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 21:09, 8 March 2012 (CST)

Although there some exceptions to that rule where present can be used, but for the most part past tense is the default tense. Once again feel free to post this in the forums if you feel strongly about it. --[[User:Hiro Hayase|Hiro Hayase]] 21:12, 8 March 2012 (CST)

Writing in past tense makes much more sense to this story line up. Present tense is rarely used. --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] 00:00, 9 March 2012 (CST)

I realize it is just a matter of style and either present or past tense are acceptable as long as it is consistent.
However, when the narration says things like "today is a holiday" I get the sense the original is in present tense.  Today was a holiday?  "That day was a holiday" would be changing the text.

' "I thought to myself" would the past tense form of that.' Exactly my point.  IF the author used such descriptions, it would be possible to write/rewrite thoughts into past tense without changing the content of the thoughts.  However, the narrator does NOT use these types of constructions.  Precisely because the narration states the character's thoughts directly without specifying the action of thinking, to change it to past tense will be altering the contents of the thoughts.  When the narrator goes "this is great!" do you change it to "it was great"?

Anyway, I'm not calling for action but just stating an opinion here.  After all, if the original question of past vs present was asked, there exists an argument for both sides.  It would take a lot of work (and wasted effort) to rewrite everything at this point.  Especially if editors have been actively correcting present tense to past tense all this time.  -- 14:15 9 March 2012 (EST)

The narration is changed to the past tense while all the dialogues are kept the same as it is wether in past or present. --[[User:Chancs|Chancs]] 01:41, 9 March 2012 (CST)

I would like to be of help with grammar and translation meanings.  As an example, the word 'bishojous' is used in reference to one or more beautiful women, could be better translated to 'Beauty' in the singular, and 'Beauties' in the plural.  This terminology refers more to an object, as opposed to something more personable. [[User:The Inventor|The Inventor]] ([[User talk:The Inventor|talk]]) 05:09, 1 June 2013 (CDT)