1. Understanding Verb Tense
Present – Past – Future
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
Future Perfect

2. What are the verb tenses?
Verbs do a lot of work in sentences. They show actions and states of being. They even take different forms to show time.
flies
flew
will fly

3. PAST – PRESENT - FUTURE Past Tense Present Tense Future Tense
Shows action happening NOW
Mary is reading the book.
Present Tense
Shows action that has already happened
Mary read the book.
Future Tense
Shows action that will happen in the future
Mary will read the book tomorrow.

4. Verb Tenses: Present, Past, and Future
PRACTICE
Complete worksheet page 8:
Verb Tenses: Present, Past, and Future

5. What about PERFECT tense?
The tense of a verb indicates the time of the action or state of being expressed by the verb.
Perfect tenses indicate that something happened or existed before a specific point in time.
Past
Present
Future
Past
Future
Present
Past Perfect
Present Perfect
Future Perfect
She will have played in ten concerts by April.
She has played in the band for three years.
Gwen will play in a concert tomorrow.
She had played violin before then.
Gwen plays guitar in a jazz band.
Gwen played last year as well.

6. Each tense has a progressive form, which is used to express continuing action or state of being.
Present progressive
am, are, is talking
Past progressive
was, were talking
Future progressive
will (shall) be talking
Present perfect progressive
has, have been talking
Past perfect progressive
had been talking
Future perfect progressive
will (shall) have been talking

7. Present vs. Present Perfect
The present tense expresses an action or a state of being that is occurring now, at the present time.
Today we honor our veterans.
Polly is marching in the parade.
(Progressive form)

8. The present perfect tense
expresses an action or a state of being that occurred at an indefinite time in the past
is usually formed using the helping verb have or has
Mike has been in several parades.
He has played the drum in all of them.

9. Present and present perfect
The present perfect tense is also used to express an action or state of being that began in the past and continues into the present. In this case, perfect means complete.
Mr. Lee has taught music at our school since 2004.
(Progressive form)
Yoko has been taking flute lessons for six years.

10. Past vs. Past Perfect
The past tense expresses an action that occurred in the past but does not continue into the present.
The two friends shared the large swing.
They were swinging for a long time.
(Progressive form)

11. is usually formed using had plus the past participle
The past perfect tense
expresses an action or that happened before another past action occurred
is usually formed using had plus the past participle
After Maria had gone home, Kim was bored.
She asked her dad about the time that he had been a lifeguard at the beach.

12. Future vs. Future Perfect
The future tense
expresses an action that will occur in the future
is usually formed using will or shall plus the base form
My family will ride the train to Chicago.
We will be arriving at five o’clock.
(Progressive form)

13. The future perfect tense
expresses an action that will end before another future action or state of being
is usually formed using will have or shall have plus the past participle
By the time you receive this letter, she will have returned home.
After this trip, he will have been to Chicago three times.

14. Verb Tenses: Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Future Perfect
PRACTICE
Complete worksheet page 9:
Verb Tenses: Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Future Perfect

15. Principal Parts of Verbs
The tenses of verbs are formed from the four principal parts of verbs.
Present
smile
choose
Present Participle
[is] smil
ing
[is] choos
ing
Past
smile d
cho se
Past Participle
[have] smile d
[have] cho
sen

16. Principal Parts of Verbs
PRACTICE
Complete worksheet page 11:
Principal Parts of Verbs

17. Do you have the hang of it yet?
On Your Own
Change the tense of the verb in each sentence, as indicated in parentheses.
1. I do not miss the bus. (Change to future.)
2. Were they at the party? (Change to past perfect.)
3. By then, Keith had returned. (Change to future perfect.)
4. The team will practice for an hour with no break. (Change to future perfect progressive.)
5. My sister dances well. (Change to past.)
[End of Section]

18. Answers
Change the tense of the verb in each sentence, as indicated in parentheses.
1. I do not miss the bus. (Change to future.)
2. Were they at the party? (Change to past perfect.)
3. By then, Keith had returned. (Change to future perfect.)
4. The team will practice for an hour with no break. (Change to future perfect progressive.)
5. My sister dances well. (Change to past.)
1. I will not miss the bus.
2. Had they been at the party?
3. By then, Keith will have returned.
4. The team will have been practicing for an hour with no break.
5. My sister danced well.

19. Irregular Verbs Do not end in the traditional “d” or “ed”.
Irregular verbs have three parts:
present
past
past participle
begin
forget go
write
began
forgot
went
wrote
(has, have, had) begun
(has, have, had) forgotten
(has, have, had) gone
(has, have, had) written

20. PRACTICE
Complete worksheet page 12:
Irregular Verbs

21. Consistency of tense
Do not change needlessly from one tense to another.
To describe events that occur at the same time, use verbs in the same tense.
past tense
past tense
Sara peeked over the fence and saw a cornfield.
present tense
present tense
Sara peeks over the fence and sees a cornfield. 21

22. For events that occur at different times, use verbs of different tenses to show the sequence of events.
past tense
past perfect tense
The pitcher wished that he had practiced more before the game.
The action of wishing happened after the action of practicing was complete.

23. For events that occur at different times, use verbs of different tenses to show the sequence of events.
past tense
present tense
Yesterday, Nina told us that her brother works
every week at the senior center.
The action of telling occurred at a specific time in the past. The action of working occurs now.

24. Consistency of tense
Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Hint: One sentence is already correct (C).
1. Kira caught the ball and throws it to first base.
2. Lily lives next door now but will soon move to another town.
3. My cousin has broken his leg, so I helped him get around.

25. Consistency of tense
Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Hint: One sentence is already correct (C).
Possible Answer
1. Kira caught the ball and threw it to first base.
The actions occur at the same time, so the verbs should both be in the same tense.

26. Consistency of tense
Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Hint: One sentence is already correct (C).
2. Lily lives next door now but will soon move to another town. C
The action of living takes place now, but the action of moving will happen later.

27. Consistency of tense
Change each sentence to make the verb tense consistent. Be prepared to explain your answers. Hint: One sentence is already correct (C).
Possible Answer
3. My cousin had broken his leg, so I helped him get around.
The action of breaking the leg happened before the action of helping.

28. Consistency of tense On Your Own
Proofread the paragraph for unnecessary changes of verb tense. Change the verbs to make the tenses consistent.
(1) I was in my room Saturday morning, planning to study for two hours. (2) To my surprise, Nancy Chang drops by. (3) She dashed into the house, runs up the stairs, and calls my name. (4) What she wanted was a fishing companion. (5) As I get my fishing gear together, I was so happy. (6) On our way to the lake, we notice some dark clouds. (7) We wished we checked the weather first.
[End of Section]

29. Consistency of tense
Possible Answers
(1) I was in my room Saturday morning, planning to study for two hours. (2) To my surprise, Nancy Chang drops by. (3) She dashed into the house, runs up the stairs, and calls my name. (4) What she wanted was a fishing companion. (5) As I get my fishing gear together, I was so happy. (6) On our way to the lake, we notice some dark clouds. (7) We wished we checked the weather first.
dropped
ran
called
got
noticed
had

30. The End