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  1. I climbed the ladder and try to grab the fruit.
  2. I climbed the ladder and tried to grab the fruit.

I was taught that if the first verb is a past tense, the 2 verb that follows should be in simple present tense. Is this collect?

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"I climbed the ladder and tried to grab the fruit."

is correct.

That sentence is composed of two parts, and each part can be turned into a sentence by itself:

"I climbed the ladder."

"I tried to grab the fruit."

If you are talking about the past, both sentences need to be in the past tense, and when you connect them with "and", both verbs should be in the past tense.

++++

However, the second sentence by itself ("I tried to grab the fruit.") actually has a compound verb ("tried to grab"). In this two-part combined verb, only the first part ("tried") is in the past tense. The second of the two parts ("to grab") remains in its infinitive form. This reference explains about the verb try when it has a complementary second verb attached.

If someone was explaining that, "if the first verb is a past tense, the 2nd verb that follows should be in ..." some other form, ... I wonder if that explanation might have been about the phrase "tried to grab" rather than about the entire sentence. (Just a speculation.)

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  • ... and would/will try to grab would be wrong?
    – Lucian Sava
    Jul 21, 2019 at 14:25
  • "I will try to grab the fruit" by itself is fine. It's a statement in the future tense. But, "I climbed the ladder and will try to grab the fruit." mixes past and future tense. If that is really what you are trying to say (I have already climbed the ladder [past], and now I am going to try to grab the fruit [future]), then I guess the sentence is not wrong, but it sounds kind of strange because we wonder why you are describing this simple action with so much slow-motion detail. ... [to be continued]
    – Lorel C.
    Jul 21, 2019 at 14:42
  • "I climbed the ladder and would try to grab the fruit." has both verbs past tense. Strictly speaking this sentence is correct. You climbed the ladder (past) and wanted/wished to try for the fruit (also past). But this sentence too, sounds a little strange and maybe antique to me, because we don't use "would" in quite that way any more. Sorry to be so detailed and picky/pedantic, but I don't want to give you false information.
    – Lorel C.
    Jul 21, 2019 at 14:53
  • Thanks so much! I really appreciate your detailed comments. To me it's very useful to see how a native speaker of English thinks. Btw, +1.
    – Lucian Sava
    Jul 21, 2019 at 15:17

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