History Main / SuspiciouslySpecificTense

** While being interrogated about the whereabouts of her children (she claimed that they had been kidnapped by a carjacker), Susan Smith repeatedly said, "I loved them, they were my life". She made a similar slip with her estranged husband, asking him "If we get the boys back, can we be a family again?" before quickly correcting herself to say "When we get the boys back..." The already suspicious cops picked up on her constant use of past tense and soon came to the correct conclusion that Susan had murdered her children.
** Mark Hacking called the police to report that his wife Lori had failed to return from her morning jog. Speaking to the press as he organized a search party, he made several incriminating statements such as, "I know I'm searching for someone who's hurt", and "If she's not there (in the park where she usually went for her run), then that means that the unimaginable happened." Already doubtful of his story, the police found it odd that he was jumping to such grim conclusions so early into the investigation and began to speculate that he already knew that the worst had happened to Lori. Sure enough, after several days, Hacking finally confessed to having killed his wife.

* In an episode of ''Series/BurnNotice'', Larry returns and forces Michael to help him break into an office building. He then talks to Fi, Sam, and a shrink on a radio. The shrink point out that Larry said that Michael ''was'' his friend, as if he's already dead. Fi goes crazy and [[spoiler:kills Larry]]. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:this results in the deaths of several security guards, which was set up by the "shrink" to hold it over Fi's head to force Michael's cooperation]].

* In ''Literature/DragonFlight'', Creel accidentally reveals that [[spoiler: Shardas]], presumed dead in the first book, is alive by telling another dragon, "Why shouldn't I tell[[spoiler: Shardas]]. He and I are friends." "Are?" She then has to tell all, but it works out for the best.

* ''Literature/SixOfCrows'': On Vellgeluk, after seeing who Van Eck really is, Jesper tells him that Wylan "deserves a better father than you". Van Eck's reply? [[spoiler: "Deserved."]]

* At a potential crime scene in the "[[Recap/SherlockS01E03TheGreatGame The Great Game]]" episode of ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'' where an filled with blood has been discovered, Sherlock questions a woman as to her husband's supposed state of mind leading up to the presumed suicide. She uses past tense when describing him, something he finds suspicious considering they've only ''just'' found the car. John figures that she might have killed him, but Sherlock brushes off the tense as something a murderer would specifically know to get "wrong". [[spoiler:Turns out the husband had faked his own death to avoid money troubles; his wife was in on it and spreading the idea that he was deeply depressed]].

* In ''Theatre/CyranoDeBergerac'', Roxane realizes [[spoiler: Christian]] has just died when Cyrano slips and refers to him in the past tense.

* ''VideoGame/ProfessorLaytonVsPhoenixWrightAceAttorney'': At one point in the final trial, you have to point out a discrepancy between two testimonies, namely [[spoiler: that Kira says Miss Darklaw ''was'' the Great Witch who gave orders to the Shades.]] Which raises the question: [[spoiler: if Darklaw stepped down as leader of the Shades, then who gave the order to assassinate the Storyteller?]]

* A source of MemeticMutation regarding the ''[[VideoGame/SuperSmashBros Super Smash Bros. Brawl]]'' website, which when first revealing [[VideoGame/{{Mother 3}} Lucas]], mentioned [[VideoGame/EarthBound Ness]] as a character who appeared in the ''Smash Bros.'' series "up until now". That phrase, coupled with Lucas' obvious similarity to Ness, convinced everyone that Ness wasn't coming back for ''Brawl''. Ultimately, [[SubvertedTrope Ness did in fact come back]].

* In ''LightNovel/HeavyObject'', Skuld claims that Quenser is just as insane as her, causing Wraith to snap and say that he was nothing like her. This allows Skuld to figure out that Quenser is dead (Wraith had earlier been coerced into shooting him). [[spoiler:In a subversion, it turns out Wraith had faked Quenser's death - apparently she's a good enough actor to keep up the deception even in a moment of weakness.]]

** It comes up again in a later conversation
-->'''Bubbles:''' I joined because I believed every citizen has the right to defend their country. I felt the "call to serve," as they say. I believed I was well-disposed toward such a role. [...] I believed that I was doing good.\\

-->'''Shredder:''' (''smiling evilly through his mask'') Do I?[note As he had just ordered Splinter's death, it's likely Shredder believes that he really is dead, or about to be killed]

'''Phyllis:''' Damn right. You don't cleave it any more.