5.64 present tenses
Stories are normally told using past tenses. However, if you want to make a story seem vivid, as if it were happening now, you can use present tenses, the simple present for actions and states and the present continuous for situations.
- There's a loud explosion behind us. Then I hear Chris giggling. Sylvia is upset.
- He pulls the van into the decrepit terrace. He packs and hurries indoors.
- Chris is crying hard and others look over from the other tables.
- He sits down at his desk chair, reaches for the telephone and dials a number.