Understanding Verb Tense What are the verb tenses? Present and present perfect Past and past perfect Future and future perfect Consistency of tense Review A Review B

What are the verb tenses? Why do verbs have so many different forms? Verbs take different forms to show all the possibilities for when something can happen. She will draw. She is drawing. She has drawn.

What are the verb tenses? The tense of a verb indicates the time of the action or state of being expressed by the verb. There are six tenses of verbs. Each tense has its own use. Present Paul lives in Boston. Present perfect He has lived in several cities. Past Paul once lived in Utah. Past perfect He had lived in Georgia before that. Future Paul will live in Boston for a long time. Future perfect He will have lived there four years.

What are the verb tenses? Present and present perfect The present tense expresses an action occurring or a state of being that is existing now, at the present time. Mom drinks the orange juice. Present Now

What are the verb tenses? Present and present perfect The present perfect tense expresses an action that occurred or a state of being that existed at an indefinite time in the past is usually formed with have or has plus the past participle Saul has drunk his juice already. We don’t know when Saul drank it. Present Now Present perfect

What are the verb tenses? Present and present perfect The present perfect tense can also express an action or state of being that began in the past and continues into the present. Grammar Guy Says... Joshua has played basketball all year. The action of playing basketball began in the past and is still going on today.

What are the verb tenses? Past and past perfect The past tense expresses an action or a state of being that started and ended in the past. The scouts hiked all morning. Past Present Past Now Present perfect

What are the verb tenses? Past and past perfect The past perfect tense expresses an action or a state of being that ended before another past action or state of being is usually formed with had plus the past participle The scouts had hiked five miles before they stopped for lunch. Past Present Past Now Present perfect Past perfect

What are the verb tenses? Future and future perfect The future tense expresses an action that will occur or a state of being that will exist is usually formed with will or shall plus the base form The class will tour the Indian ruins. Present Future Future Now Present perfect

What are the verb tenses? Future and future perfect The future perfect tense expresses an action or a state of being that will end before another future action or state of being is usually formed with will have or shall have plus the past participle By the end of the trip, the class will have toured three ruins. Present Future Future Now Present Perfect Future Perfect

What are the verb tenses? Identify the incorrect verb form in each of the following sentences. Then, write the correct form of the verb. 1. Yesterday I done more homework than today. 2. My brother will traded some of his baseball cards with his friends. 3. Earlier the dog just wag his tail to greet me.

What are the verb tenses? Identify the incorrect verb form in each of the following sentences. Then, write the correct form of the verb. 1. Yesterday I did more homework than today. The word yesterday tells us the sentence is in the past tense. The past tense of do is did.

What are the verb tenses? Identify the incorrect verb form in each of the following sentences. Then, write the correct form of the verb. 2. My brother will trade some of his baseball cards with his friends. The word will tells us the sentence is in the future tense. The future tense of trade is will trade.

What are the verb tenses? Identify the incorrect verb form in each of the following sentences. Then, write the correct form of the verb. 3. Earlier the dog just wagged his tail to greet me. The sentence is in the past tense. The correct past tense form is wagged.

What are the verb tenses? On Your Own Change the tense of the boldface verb in each sentence to the tense in parentheses. 1. Miguel makes the photo larger. (Change to past.) 2. The picnic took place on Sunday. (Change to future.) 3. The boys ran three miles in one hour. (Change to past perfect.) 4. By then, Aunt Nell had arrived. (Change to future perfect.) 5. Cynthia had played the violin beautifully. (Change to present.) [End of Section]

What are the verb tenses? Answers Change the tense of the boldface verb in each sentence to the tense in parentheses. 1. Miguel makes the photo larger. (Change to past.) 2. The picnic took place on Sunday. (Change to future.) 3. The boys ran three miles in one hour. (Change to past perfect.) 4. By then, Aunt Nell had arrived. (Change to future perfect.) 5. Cynthia had played the violin beautifully. (Change to present.) 1. Miguel made the photo larger. 2. The picnic will take place on Sunday. 3. The boys had run three miles in one hour. 4. By then, Aunt Nell will have arrived. 5. Cynthia plays the violin beautifully.

Consistency of tense Do not change from one tense to another without a good reason. To describe events that occur in the same time period, use verbs in the same tense. past tense past tense When we went to the movies, we bought popcorn. present tense present tense When we go to the movies, we buy popcorn.

Consistency of tense For events that occur in different time periods, use verbs of different tenses to show the order of events. present tense past tense Lisa plays basketball now, but last year she was on the volleyball team. Lisa’s basketball playing is occurring in the present. Her volleyball playing happened in the past.

Consistency of tense Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. 1. Each morning they got up early and run. 2. The sun rises and the sky turned pink. 3. Heidi coughed when a bug flies into her mouth. 4. I had washed the dishes, but they are still wet.

Consistency of tense Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Possible Answer 1. Each morning they get up early and run. The actions occur at the same time, so the verbs should be in the same tense. (Here they are both in the present tense.)

Consistency of tense Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Possible Answer 2. The sun rose and the sky turned pink. The actions occur at the same time, so the verbs should be in the same tense. (Here they are both in the past tense.)

Consistency of tense Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Possible Answer 3. Heidi coughed when a bug flew into her mouth. The actions occur at the same time, so the verbs should be in the same tense. (Here they are both in the past tense.)

Consistency of tense Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Possible Answer 4. I had washed the dishes, but they were still wet. The action of washing the dishes occurred before the state of being wet. Two different tenses, past perfect and past, are used to show the order.

Consistency of tense On Your Own Read the paragraph and decide whether to rewrite it in the present or past tense. Then, change verb forms to make the tenses consistent. (1) Lightning struck our house, and I run straight for cover. (2) “Oh, no!” I exclaim. (3) The electricity was out! (4) My parents get out the flashlights, and we played a game. (5) The stove and microwave are not working, so we have a cold supper in the living room. (6) In the morning, we are all happy. (7) The sun shone and our electricity is back on. [End of Section]

Consistency of tense Possible Answer (1) Lightning struck our house, and I run straight for cover. (2) “Oh, no!” I exclaim. (3) The electricity was out! (4) My parents get out the flashlights, and we played a game. (5) The stove and microwave are not working, so we have a cold supper in the living room. (6) In the morning, we are all happy. (7) The sun shone and our electricity is back on. ran exclaimed got were had were was

Review A Change the tense of each boldface verb to the tense given in parentheses. 1. The children wear their seatbelts. (past perfect) 2. The bell in the clock tower rang. (present) 3. My family will move to Seattle. (present perfect) 4. With confidence, Sara begins the quiz. (past) 5. We sent the packages by airmail. (future)

Review A Change the tense of each boldface verb to the tense given in parentheses. 1. The children had worn their seatbelts. (past perfect) 2. The bell in the clock tower rings. (present) 3. My family has moved to Seattle. (present perfect) 4. With confidence, Sara began the quiz. (past) 5. We will send the packages by airmail. (future)

Review B Read the paragraph and decide whether to rewrite it in the present or past tense. Then, change verb forms to make the tenses consistent. (1) I travel to Denver and visited my grandparents. (2) Grandpa gave me a big hug when I get off the train. (3) Then we all go to their house for dinner. (4) The very next morning Grandma takes me downtown and we shopped for books and shoes. (5) Then she and I meet up with Grandpa and went to the museum. [End of Section]

Review B Read the paragraph and decide whether to rewrite it in the present or past tense. Then change verb forms to make the tenses consistent. (Possible answer) traveled (1) I travel to Denver and visited my grandparents. (2) Grandpa gave me a big hug when I get off the train. (3) Then we all go to their house for dinner. (4) The very next morning Grandma takes me downtown and we shopped for books and shoes. (5) Then she and I meet up with Grandpa and went to the museum. got went took met

The End