I am editing a biography, and I have run across a conundrum that I do not think I can figure out if I owned all the style guides in the world.
The subject is speaking about her father who has dementia. She is trying to picture to the reader what her father is thinking. I am giving you the preceding sentence to put it into context and then the sentence in question is second.
So far I have it formatted as dialogue:
His routine, the one thing he had left that he could count on, kept him hanging on to something solid when all his memories were fading away. Dad knew that, “First I do this, then I do that, then I go here, then I stay for awhile, and then I go there.”
I'm confused. You write your scenario in Present tense verb forms:
"...her father who has dementia."
"...what her father is thinking."
...yet your dialogue is in the Past tense, as if he is dead, or too incapacitated now to follow a routine:
"...one thing he had left..."
"...when all his memories were fading away"
"...Dad knew that..."
As per the tenses used, my version would be:
His routine, the one thing he had left that he could count on, kept him hanging on to something solid
His routine, the one thing he had left that he could count on, let him hang on to something solid
when all his memories were fading away. Dad knew that,
“First I do this, then I do that, then I go here, then I stay for awhile, and then I go there.”
“First I do this, then I do that, then I go here, then I stay awhile;((semi-colon))) and then I go there.”
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With suggested tenses, my version would be:
His routine, the one thing he had left that he could count on, kept him hanging on to something solid
His routine, the one thing he has left that he can count on, lets him hang on to something solid
when all his memories were fading away. Dad knew that,
when all his memories are fading away. Dad knows that,
“First I do this, then I do that, then I go here, then I stay for awhile, and then I go there.”
“First I do this, then I do that, then I go here, then I stay awhile;((semi-colon))) and then I go there.”