Understanding Verb Tense

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Understanding Verb Tense
What are verb tenses? Present and present
perfect Past and past perfect Future and future
perfect Consistency of tense Review A Review B
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What are 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 draws.
She has drawn.
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What are verb tenses?
The tense of a verb indicates the time of the
action or state of being expressed by the verb.
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.
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What are verb tenses?Present and present perfect
The present tense expresses a general truth, an
action that occurs regularly, or a state of being
that exists at the present time.
Mom drinks orange juice.
Present
Present
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What are 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 dont know when Saul drank it.
Present
Present
- - - -gt
Present perfect
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What are 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.
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What are 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
Present
- - - -gt
Present Perfect
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What are 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.
Present
Past
Past
Present
- - - -gt
- - - -gt
Present Perfect
Past Perfect
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What are 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.
Future
Present
Future
Present
- - - -gt
Present Perfect
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What are 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.
Future
Present
Future
Present
- - - -gt
- - - -gt
Present Perfect
Future Perfect
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What are 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.
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What are 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.
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What are 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.
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What are 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.
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What are 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. Cynth
ia had played the violin beautifully. (Change to
present.)
End of Section
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What are 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. Cynth
ia 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.
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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.
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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.
Lisas basketball playing is occurring in the
present. Her volleyball playing happened in the
past.
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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.
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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.)
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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.)
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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.)
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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.
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Consistency of tense
On Your Own
Rewrite the paragraph in the past tense. 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 do not work, 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
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Consistency of tense
Possible Answer
ran
(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 do not work, 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.
exclaimed
got
did
had
were
was
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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)
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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)
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Review B
Rewrite the paragraph in the past tense. 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
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Review B
Rewrite the paragraph in the past tense. 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
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The End