Download Using Verb Tense Correctly

Using Verb Tense Correctly
What is verb tense?
Verb tense is a form of the verb that tells when the action happened. There are three
common kinds of verb tenses: past tense, present tense, and future tense.
Examples:
Past Tense
Little Red Riding Hood walked to her grandma’s house.
Present Tense
Little Red Riding Hood walks to her grandma’s house.
Future Tense
Little Red Riding Hood will walk to her grandma’s house.
Rule:
Keep your verb tenses generally the same throughout a sentence and throughout a piece
of writing. However, writing in quotation marks might be in a different verb tense. Or,
writing about something that happened in the past or something that will happen in the
future might be in a different tense.
Can you give me examples?
Yes! See the examples below.
Examples:
AVOID THIS: Little Red Riding Hood grabbed her basket, is walking through the woods,
and listened to the wolf.
INSTEAD, DO THIS: Little Red Riding Hood grabbed her basket, walked through the
woods, and listened to the wolf.
OR INSTEAD, DO THIS: Little Red Riding Hood grabs her basket, walks through the
woods, and listens to the wolf.
Give it a try!
With a partner, read your literary essay. Find the verbs. Are you writing in the same verb
tense across the essay (unless it really makes sense to change it)? If not, revise to make
your verb tense consistent.
May be photocopied for classroom use. © 2016 by Lucy Calkins and Colleagues from the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project from Units of Study in Opinion, Information, and Narrative Writing (Heinemann: Portsmouth, NH).