Can AI help me check the use of tenses in my thesis?

AI can assist in verifying tense usage within academic theses. Automated tools utilize Natural Language Processing (NLP) to analyze verb tenses for adherence to conventions like past tense for established facts and present tense for general truths or framework discussion. These systems rely on trained models identifying verbs and assessing tense consistency within the surrounding context and sentence structure. Their effectiveness depends on access to clear, grammatically correct text. Caution is required, as tools can misinterpret complex constructions and nuanced disciplinary conventions, potentially yielding false positives. Human oversight remains essential for context-dependent tense choices, especially in discussions straddling different temporal aspects across sections. For thesis writing, AI tools provide efficient preliminary checks against basic rules for literature reviews (past tense), methodology descriptions (past tense), results reporting (past tense), and general statement presentation (present tense). Implementing them involves pasting relevant text sections into grammar checkers or dedicated AI writing assistants. This identifies obvious errors and inconsistencies, enhancing grammatical precision and freeing researcher time for substantive review of logical flow and argumentation where nuanced tense application matters critically.