$ %

! Must Knows Review

VERBAL

V 6. Verb Tense, Mo… " SC "

Expand All Contract All

6.2 The Present Tense

Must Know: #
We typically use the present tense to
describe things that happen routinely or
to discuss facts and universal truths that
do not change over time.

Must Know: #
Present tense verbs are often used to
describe policies, laws, rules, and
regulations that were enacted at some
point in the past but still have their
effects in the present.

6.3 The Simple Past Tense

Must Know: #
The simple past tense is used to
describe events that occurred – and
ended – in the past.

Must Know: #
In the cases of most verbs, the simple
past tense form is created by adding –
ed to the stem of the verb.

6.4 The Future Tense

Must Know: #
The future tense is used when
discussing events that have not yet
occurred but will occur in the future.
The future tense is formed by
preceding the base verb with the
helping verb “will.”

Must Know: #
The construction a form of “to be” +
“going to” + the base verb can be used
to create future tense expressions. The
future tense expressed in this way is
generally used in sentences about
future events that are planned or that
seem likely to occur.

Context Clues in Sentences Tell Us

6.5
Which Tense Must be Used

Must Know: #
Correctly answering verb, tense, mood
questions is more about solving a
puzzle than it is about being a
grammarian.

Must Know: #
In each of the sentence versions in
Sentence Correction questions
involving verb tense issues, the test-
maker will include well-placed clues
indicating exactly which tense must be
used. To choose the version with the
most logical use of tense, we must
notice the clues provided.

VTM Strategy Two: Use Other

Context Clues to Eliminate
6.5.2
Versions with Tenses that Can’t
Work

Must Know: #
In considering a sentence containing a
combination of past, present, and future
tenses, use keywords, key phrases, and
other context clues to arrive at a logical
timeline of events.

6.6 Present Perfect Tense

Must Know: #
When an action began in the past and
continues into the present, we use the
present perfect tense

Must Know: #
Present perfect tense = “have” or “has”
+ past participle.

Must Know: #
Context clues in a sentence will tell us if
we must use (or can’t use) the present
perfect tense.

When We Must Use the Present

6.6.1
Perfect Tense

Must Know: #
When “since” is used to convey that a
subject has engaged in an action from
the past to the present, the present
perfect tense must be used.

Situations in Which the Present

6.6.2
Perfect Tense Can’t Be Used

Must Know: #
When a sentence describes an event
that clearly ended in the past, the
present perfect is not correct.

Must Know: #
If an action clearly ended in the past,
using the present perfect is illogical.

When the Present Perfect Is Not

6.6.3
Mandatory, but Common

Must Know: #
The words “for,” “over,” and “during” are
clues indicating that the use of the
present perfect may make sense.

6.7 The Past Perfect Tense

Must Know: #
The past perfect tense is used with the
action that occurred deeper in the past,
and the simple past tense is used with
the action that occurred in the more
recent past.

Eliminate Sentences that Reverse

6.7.1 the Correct Position of the Past
Perfect Tense

Must Know: #
SC questions may try to trick us into
choosing wrong answers that reverse
the correct placement of the past
perfect tense. These questions, which
have two past actions mentioned, utilize
the past perfect tense with the more
recent past action.

Use the Past Perfect When

Describing an Action/Event
6.7.2
Completed by a Certain Time in the
Past.

Must Know: #
The past perfect tense must be used to
indicate that an action or event was
completed before a specified date or
time period in the past.

Must Know: #
Not every sentence about something
occurring by a time in the past has to
use the past perfect. If a sentence
about something occurring by a time in
the past is not about an action or event
completed by a time in the past, it can
use another tense.

The Past Perfect Tense Is

6.7.3 Unnecessary When the Time
Sequence Is Clear Without It.

Must Know: #
If a sentence makes clear the time
sequence of past events without the
use of the past perfect tense, the use of
the past perfect tense is not necessary.

Must Know: #
Being aware that the use of the past
perfect tense is not always necessary
for making clear the sequence of past
events can help us to avoid being
fooled into choosing an incorrect
choice.

6.8 The Future Perfect Tense

Must Know: #
The future perfect tense indicates that
an event that has not yet happened will
be completed before another event that
has not yet happened or before a
specific time in the future.

Must Know: #
The future perfect tense = “will” +
“have” + past participle.

6.9 The Future in the Past

Must Know: #
The future in the past is used when
sentences about past events refer to
events that were in the future when the
past events occurred.

6.10 The Continuous Tenses

Must Know: #
We use the progressive tenses to
discuss actions that are, were, or will be
in progress.

Must Know: #
The purpose of the continuous tenses is
to bring the reader’s attention to the
temporarily ongoing nature of an action.

6.10.1 The Present Continuous Tense

Must Know: #
The present continuous tense is used to
describe events that are temporarily
ongoing in the present. This tense is
formed by joining a present tense form
of the verb “to be” with the present
participle (-ing form) of the base verb.

6.10.2 The Past Continuous Tense

Must Know: #
The past continuous tense is used to
describe an action or event that was
ongoing but has ended.

Must Know: #
The past continuous tense can also be
used to describe an event that was
occurring in the background when a
more notable event occurred.

6.10.3 The Future Continuous Tense

Must Know: #
The future continuous tense is used to
describe an action or event that will be
ongoing but has not yet begun.

6.10.4 The Perfect Continuous Tenses

Must Know: #
There are continuous versions of the
present perfect, the past perfect, and
future perfect tenses. They are the
present perfect continuous, the past
perfect continuous, and the future
perfect continuous. Like other
continuous tenses, these perfect
continuous tenses are used to highlight
the ongoing nature of events described.

Determining Whether to Use a

6.10.5 Non-Continuous or Continuous
Tense

Must Know: #
When sentences involve reasons to
highlight the ongoing nature of events,
versions that use continuous tenses are
the best. When sentences do not
involve reasons to highlight the ongoing
nature of events, versions that use non-
continuous tenses are the best.

Must Know: #
Use the simple present rather than the
present continuous in stating that
events occur, if the point of the
sentence is not to express that events
are ongoing at the present time.

Must Know: #
Just as context clues tell us whether
using the simple present or using the
present continuous makes more sense,
we can tell from context clues whether
using the simple past or the past
continuous makes more sense.

Must Know: #
Unless there is a clear reason to
highlight the continuous nature of a past
action, we don’t use the past
continuous tense.

Must Know: #
Unless there is a clear reason to
highlight the continuous nature of a
future action, we don’t use the future
continuous tense.

Must Know: #
When we answer Sentence Correction
questions, we can use context clues to
determine whether it makes more
sense to use a non-continuous tense, it
makes more sense to use a continuous
tense, or either a non-continuous tense
or a continuous tense works.

6.11 Verb Mood

Must Know: #
Whereas verb tense lets us place
events in time, verb mood conveys the
attitude with which a statement is made.

6.12 Indicative Mood

Must Know: #
The indicative mood is the most
common verb mood and is used to
state facts, assertions, and
observations.

The Subjunctive Mood:

6.13
Hypothetical Situations

Must Know: #
Sentences that describe hypothetical
situations must use the subjunctive
mood. In describing these hypothetical
situations with the verb “to be,” we use
the verb “were,” never the verb “was.”

Must Know: #
In identifying sentences that require the
subjunctive mood, it’s helpful to know
that these hypothetical clauses typically
begin with “if,” “as if,” “were,” or “as
though.”

Must Know: #
Another form of the subjunctive that can
appear in a Sentence Correction
question is formed via the combination
of “were” and an infinitive.

The Subjunctive Mood is Not Used

6.14 in Sentences that Express
Uncertainty

Must Know: #
There is a major difference between a
hypothetical situation and a situation in
which the outcome is real, yet the
speaker is unsure of that outcome.

Use of the Subjunctive Mood in

6.15
Command Situations

Must Know: #
Request, suggestion, demand, or
command words followed by the word
“that” require the subjunctive mood,
which, in these situations, is referred to
as the command subjunctive.

Must Know: #
The subjunctive form of the verb “to be”
used in command sentences is always
“be.” Other verbs used in command
sentences will be expressed in their
unconjugated form.

Must Know: #
Not every sentence that involves a
request, suggestion, demand, or
command must use the command
subjunctive.

6.16 The Conditional Mood

Must Know: #
The conditional mood is used in
sentences about conditions and results
that are purely hypothetical.

Must Know: #
The conditional mood is formed by
combining “would” or “could” with a
finite verb.

Must Know: #
We often use the verbs “will” or “can”
when describing an action or event that
is actually possible, but we use “would”
or “could” when describing actions or
events that are purely hypothetical.

The Conditional Mood Is Not Used

6.17 in Sentences that Are Not Purely
Hypothetical

Must Know: #
The conditional mood is used in
sentences describing purely
hypothetical things. It is not used in
situations that could actually be true.

Must Know: #
Not all conditional sentences must use
the subjunctive mood. Many sentences
are conditional yet at the same time do
not describe something hypothetical.
 Must Know: #
In order to arrive at the correct answers
to Sentence Correction questions
involving conditional statements, we
have to notice whether the statements
are about actual or hypothetical
situations and whether the sentences
use the conditional or indicative mood
appropriately.

Verb Voice: Active Voice vs. Passive

6.18
Voice

Must Know: #
When the subject of a clause performs
the action, the corresponding verb is in
the active voice.

Must Know: #
When the subject of a sentence has an
action being done to it, the
corresponding verb is in the passive
voice. The passive voice is composed
of a form of “to be” followed by the past
participle of the main verb.

Deciding Between Answer

6.18.1 Choices That Use the Active Voice
or Passive Voice

Must Know: #
Most of the time, the active voice is
preferred to the passive voice.

Must Know: #
The instances in which the passive
voice is preferred over the active voice
will tend be those in which the passive
voice helps to draw attention to the
more important noun in the sentence.

Must Know: #
When we report on findings or scientific
research, we typically want to put the
person or people doing the research in
the background and bring the findings
to the forefront. The passive voice helps
us to accomplish this goal.

Must Know: #
We often place the emphasis on the
thing receiving the action, rather than
on the doer, when the action is the
result of an event or force of nature.

Must Know: #
Sometimes the doer of an action is
unidentified in a sentence, because the
doer is either not important or not
known. In such situations, the passive
voice is often used.

Must Know: #
The passive voice is often used in
sentences about the ingredients or
contents of something, which use
phrases such as “made of,” “made up
of,” “composed of,” and “filled with,”
preceded by a form of the verb “to be.”
We use the passive voice in these
cases to keep the emphasis on the
whole rather than on its parts.

Don’t Eliminate a Sentence

6.18.2 Version Just Because its Written in
the Passive Voice

Must Know: #
In SC questions, we will encounter
situations in which the correct answers
are written in the passive voice, so don’t
rule out a sentence simply because it is
written in the passive voice.

Must Know: #
Be careful not to be tempted into
choosing an incorrect Sentence
Correction answer choice just because
it uses the active voice and, therefore,
sounds a little more “normal” than other
choices.

In Questions Testing Verb Voice,

6.18.3 it’s Often Smart to Seek Other
Errors Too.

Must Know: #
Since use of one of the verb voices may
not be sufficient to make an answer
choice clearly incorrect, in answering
these questions we can make the work
lighter by seeking out other issues that
make a choice clearly incorrect.

2022 © TargetTestPrep. All rights reserved