Tense Inconsistency (Past Simple and Present Perfect) or wrong Sequence of Tenses (Present tense follows Past tense)?
In the following sentence, the Present Perfect in the second clause sounds a little off to me, yet I cannot put my finger on WHY that is.
During this time (Subord. Clause 1), I was able to gain/ I gained many new experiences (Independent Clause 1), and although I enjoyed it (Subord. Clause 2), my lifetime dream has always been to become a teacher (Independent Clause 2).
-> the reason the Present Perfect was used here, is because it is still true in the present. It has been and it still is now the person's dream to become a teacher.
It is clearly a sentence which contains two independent clauses and two subordinate clauses (Please, correct me if I'm wrong!)
My two solutions to solve this problem would be:
- MAKING TWO SEPARATE SENTENCES
During this time, I was able to gain/ I gained many new experiences which I really enjoyed. However, my lifetime dream has always been to become a teacher, which is why I’ve decided to start my current studies in…
OR
- CHANGING THE VERB TENSE in the second subordinate clause to PRESENT PERFECT (to not interrupt the logical sequence of the tenses)
During this time, I was able to gain/ I gained many new experiences, and although I’ve enjoyed it (referring to this time), my lifetime dream has always been to become a teacher.
My question is - WHAT IS THE EXPLANATION as to why the original sentence isn't correct? How do I explain this to my student?
Is it TENSE INCONSISTENCY? Do we have to keep the same tense throughout a clause which is why it's better to rather have two separate sentences instead? Or is it a problem with the logical SEQUENCE OF THE TENSES, which is why the Present Perfect should be followed by the Present Perfect ?
Thank you in advance! :-)
Without changing too many details, I came up with this.
During this time, I gained [amazing] new experiences and although it was an enjoyable period, it has always been my lifetime dream to be a teacher.
The Simple Past is used in the first two clauses because it refers to a specific and completed period of time. However, seeing as the speaker's ambition is ongoing, the Present Perfect is suitable. There is no rule that I know of that says you cannot have different tenses in the same sentence, e.g.
“She used to teach children at a nursery school, but today she works as a software engineer.”