Understanding verb tense

What are the verb tenses?

Present and present perfect
Past and past perfect
Future and future perfect
Review A
Review B
 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

 What are the verb tenses?
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 Present Future

Past Perfect Present Perfect Future Perfect

She
She
Gwen
will
She
has
Gwen
Gwen
have
had
will
played
plays
played
played
played
playinguitar
inthe
last
violin
a
inconcert
band
ten
year
in before
aconcerts
jazz
for
astomorrow.
well.
three
then.
band.
byyears.
April.
 What are the verb tenses?
The tenses of verbs are formed from the four
principal parts of verbs.

Base Form smile choose

Present Participle [is] smil ing [is] choos ing

Past smile d cho se

Past Participle [have] smile d [have] cho sen

 What are the verb tenses?
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
has, have been
progressive
talking
Past perfect progressive had been talking

Future perfect progressive will (shall) have been

talking
 What are the verb tenses?
Present and 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)
 What are the verb tenses?
Present and present perfect
The present tense is also used in these ways:
to show a customary or We recycle our aluminum
habitual action or state of cans.
being
to express a general truth The sun rises in the east.
to make historical events In 1927, Charles Lindbergh
seem current (historical flies nonstop across the
present) Atlantic.
to discuss a literary work In Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck
(literary present) shows us the extremes of life
during the depression.
to express future time We travel to Utah next month.
 What are the verb tenses?
Present and present perfect
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 plus the past participle

Mike has been in several parades.

He has played the drum in all of them.

 What are the verb tenses?
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.
 What are the verb tenses?
Past and past perfect
The past tense expresses an action or a state of
being that occurred in the past but did not
continue into the present.

The two friends shared the large swing.

They were swinging for a long time.

(Progressive form)
 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 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.
 What are the verb tenses?
Future and future perfect
The future tense
• expresses an action or a state of being that will
occur
• 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)
 Review A

Change the tense of each boldface verb to the tense

indicated in parentheses.

1. The otter swam to the edge of the pond. (present

perfect)
2. Our class will read Shakespeare’s Macbeth. (future
progressive)
3. The three sisters regularly meet for lunch. (past)
4. Each student chooses a lab partner. (past perfect)
5. Wasps were entering the house through the torn screen.
(present)
 Review B

Supply an appropriate modal, helping verb, or main verb to

complete each sentence correctly. The hints in parentheses
will help you.

1. Colleen _____ almost reach the light bulb. (shows ability)

2. Jack _____ repair the bicycle tomorrow. (future tense)

3. Most of the girls _____ already left. (present perfect)

4. I _____ attend the concert if only I had more time.

(shows a condition)
5. Tamara opens the refrigerator and _____ inside.
(consistent tense)
[End of Section]