Download Verb Tense

Verb Tense
Using Verbs to Express Different Times
What is verb tense?
Verb tense tells when an action happened: in the
past, in the present, or in the future.
Verbs change their form and use the helping verbs
have or be to indicate different tenses.
 Present tense: Rick hikes every weekend.
 Past tense: He hiked ten miles last weekend.
 Future tense: He will hike again on Saturday.
Types of verbs

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Most verbs in English are regular verbs that
follow standard rules about what endings to use
to express time.
Irregular verbs do not follow the regular
pattern for endings.
Regular present-tense endings
The present tense is used for actions that are
happening at the same time that they are being
written about (the present) and for things that
happen all the time.
Present-tense, regular verbs end either in –s, or
they have no ending added.
Use the –s ending when the subject is he, she, it, or
the name of one person or thing. Use no ending
for all other subjects.

Regular verbs in the present tense
First person
Singular
Plural
I jump
We jump
Second person You jump
You jump
Third person
They jump
The children jump
She (he, it) jumps
The child jumps
Using present-tense regular verbs
Select the correct verb form:
My roommate (cook / cooks) us breakfast on
Sundays.
A) cook
B) cooks
Using present-tense regular verbs
Select the correct verb form:
My roommate (cook / cooks) us breakfast on
Sundays.
ANSWER:
A) cook
B) cooks
Regular past-tense endings
The past tense is used for actions that have
already happened.
An –ed ending is needed on all regular verbs in the
past tense.

Present tense and past tense verb
endings
First person
Present tense
I avoid her.
Past tense
I avoided her.
Second person
You help me.
You helped me.
Third person
He walks fast.
He walked fast.
Using the past tense of regular verbs
Select the correct past-tense form of the verb in
parentheses:
Robert
(hike) many miles through the
woods of Maine.
A) hikes
B) hike
C) hiked
D) none of the above
Using the past tense of regular verbs
Select the correct past-tense form of the verb in
parentheses:
Robert
(hike) many miles through the
woods of Maine.
ANSWER:
A) hikes
B) hike
C) hiked
D) none of the above
Regular past-participle ending
The past participle is a verb that is used with a
helping verb, such as have.
For all regular verbs, the past-participle form is the
same as the past tense form. It uses an –ed
ending.
 Past tense: I visited my cousins.
 Past participle: I have visited my cousins.

Using the past participle of regular
verbs
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
Every weekday night, I have
(study) for
three hours.
A) study
B) studied
C) studies
D) none of the above
Using the past participle of regular
verbs
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
Every weekday night, I have
(study) for
three hours.
ANSWER:
A) study
B) studied
C) studies
D) none of the above
Irregular verbs

Irregular verbs do not follow the regular
pattern for endings. The following are some
common irregular verbs: be, bring, do, get, give, go,
have/has, make, say, see, speak, take, write.
Irregular verbs
Present tense Past tense
be (am/are/is)
bring
do
get
was/were
brought
did
got
Past participle
(used with has/have)
been
brought
done
gotten
give
go
have/has
make
gave
went
had
made
given
gone
had
made
More irregular verbs
Present tense Past tense
say
see
speak
take
write
cost
begin
read
said
saw
spoke
took
wrote
cost
began
read
Past participle
(used with has/have)
said
seen
spoken
taken
written
cost
begun
read
Present tense of two irregular verbs
Be
Have
I am
We are
I have
You have
You are
You are
You have
You have
He, she, it is
The editor is
Beth is
They are
He, she, it has They have
The editors are
Beth and
Christina are
Using be and have in the present
tense
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
We ___ (be) happy that you have decided to take
the job.
A) be
B) is
C) are
D) none of the above
Using be and have in the present
tense
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
We ___ (be) happy that you have decided to take
the job.
ANSWER:
A) be
B) is
C) are
D) none of the above
Using be and have in the present
tense
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
To enter the building, you
pass.
A) has
B) haven
C) have
D) none of the above
(have) to get a
Using be and have in the present
tense
Select the correct form of the verb in parentheses:
To enter the building, you
pass.
ANSWER:
A) has
B) haven
C) have
D) none of the above
(have) to get a
Irregular verbs in the past tense

Irregular verbs do not use the –ed ending for
the past-tense form. They show the past tense
with a change in spelling or in some other way.
Irregular verbs in the past tense
Present tense
I begin today.
Past tense
I began yesterday.
You sleep very soundly.
You slept late this morning.
I let the dog in today.
I let the dog in yesterday.
The verb be, past tense

The verb be is tricky because it has two different forms
for the past tense: was and were.
Singular
First person I was
Second person You were
Third person He, she, it was
The student was
Plural
We were
You were
They were
The students were
Using be in the past tense
Select the correct past tense of the verb be:
She decided that her problems
stop her.
A) were
B) was
C) is
D) none of the above
not going to
Using be in the past tense
Select the correct past tense of the verb be:
She decided that her problems
not going to
stop her.
ANSWER:
A) were
B) was
C) is
D) none of the above
Using irregular verbs in the past
tense
Select the past tense of the irregular verb in
parentheses:
I
(think) my pronunciation was terrible,
but the teacher said I was improving.
A) thought
B) thinked
C) think
D) none of the above
Using irregular verbs in the past
tense
Select the past tense of the irregular verb in
parentheses:
I
(think) my pronunciation was terrible,
but the teacher said I was improving.
ANSWER:
A) thought
B) thinked
C) think
D) none of the above
Irregular verbs in the past participle


For irregular verbs, the past participle is often different
from the past tense.
It is difficult to predict how irregular verbs form the
past participle. It may be helpful to refer to a chart or
list of irregular past participles.
Past tense
Regular verb
Past participle
I walked home. I have walked home before.
Irregular verb I drove home.
I have driven home before.
Using irregular verbs in the past
participle
Select the correct helping verb (a form of have)
and the correct past-participle of the verb in
parentheses:
Many people
(choose) natural methods of
getting more sleep.
A) has chosen
B) have chosen
C) have choosed
D) has choosed
Using irregular verbs in the past
participle
Select the correct helping verb (a form of have) and the
correct past-participle of the verb in parentheses:
Many people
(choose) natural methods of getting
more sleep.
ANSWER:
A) has chosen
B) have chosen
C) have choosed
D) has choosed
Using past participles
A past participle, by itself, cannot be the main
verb of a sentence.
But when a past participle is combined with
another verb, called a helping verb, it can be
used to make the present perfect tense and the
past perfect tense.

Have/has + past participle = present
perfect tense

The present perfect tense is used for an action that
began in the past and either continues into the present
or was completed at some unknown time in the past.

Present perfect tense: My car has stalled several
times recently. (This sentence says that the stalling
began in the past but may continue into the present.)
Past tense: My car stalled. (This sentence says that the
car stalled once and that it’s over.)

Using the present perfect tense
Select the correct tense of the verb in parentheses:
Evidence ____ (show) that disorientation is a
major risk for inexperienced pilots.
A) has shown
B) showed
C) has showed
D) none of the above
Using the present perfect tense
Select the correct tense of the verb in parentheses:
Evidence ____ (show) that disorientation is a
major risk for inexperienced pilots.
ANSWER:
A) has shown
B) showed
C) has showed
D) none of the above
Had + past participle = past perfect
tense
Use had plus the past participle to make the past
perfect tense.
The past perfect tense is used for an action that began in
the past and ended before some other past action.


Past perfect tense: My car had stalled several times
before I called the mechanic. (This sentence says that
both the stalling and calling the mechanic happened in the
past, but the stalling happened before the calling.)
Using the past perfect tense
Select the correct tense of the verb in parentheses:
By the time my grandfather retired at the age of
seventy, he ____ (hold) many different jobs.
A) held
B) had holded
C) had held
D) none of the above
Using the past perfect tense
Select the correct tense of the verb in parentheses:
By the time my grandfather retired at the age of
seventy, he ____ (hold) many different jobs.
ANSWER:
A) held
B) had holded
C) had held
D) none of the above
Be + past participle = passive voice
A sentence that is written in the passive voice
has a subject that does not perform an action.
Instead, the subject is acted upon.
To create the passive voice, combine a form of be
with a past participle.
 Passive: The newspaper was thrown onto the
porch. (The subject, newspaper, did not throw
itself onto the porch. Some unidentified person
threw the newspaper.)

Active voice


Most sentences are written in the active voice,
which means that the subject performs the
action.
Active: The delivery person threw the
newspaper onto the porch. (The subject, delivery
person, performed the action: he or she threw the
newspaper.)
Passive vs. active voice
Use the passive voice when no one person performed
the action, when you don’t know who performed the
action, or when you want to emphasize the receiver of
the action.
Do not overuse the passive voice. When you know who
performed the action, it is usually preferable to identify
the actor.
 Active: The bandleader chose Kelly to do a solo.
 Passive: Kelly was chosen to do a solo.
(If you wanted to emphasize Kelly’s being chosen rather
than the bandleader’s choice, you might decide to use
the passive voice.)

Changing from active to passive voice






He sent the payment over two weeks ago.
First, identify the subject (he) and the verb (sent).
Ask: What word in the sentence is receiving the action?
Payment.
Cross out the subject.
Make the word that is receiving the action the subject
by moving it to the beginning of the sentence.
Add the correct form of the verb be in front of the
main verb.
You can either delete the performer of the action or
put this information after the verb and the word by.
The payment was sent two weeks ago by him.
Using the passive voice
Which of the following correctly rewrites this
sentence in the passive voice?
Someone spilled a drink on this book.
A) Someone was spilled a drink on this book.
B) A drink was spilled on this book.
C) On this book, someone spilled a drink.
D) none of the above
Using the passive voice
Which of the following correctly rewrites this
sentence in the passive voice?
Someone spilled a drink on this book.
ANSWER:
A) Someone was spilled a drink on this book.
B) A drink was spilled on this book.
C) On this book, someone spilled a drink.
D) none of the above
Consistency of verb tense
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

Consistency of verb tense means that all actions in a
sentence that happen (or happened) at the same time
are in the same tense.
If all of the actions happen in the present or happen all
the time, use the present tense for all verbs in the
sentence.
If all of the actions happened in the past, use the past
tense for all verbs.
When you edit your writing, make sure that any time a
verb tense changes it is because the action the verb
describes happened at a different time. Otherwise, the
shift in tenses causes an inconsistency.
Consistency of verb tense



Inconsistent: The movie started just as we
take our seats. (The actions both happened at
the same time, but started is in the past tense, and
take is in the present tense.)
Consistent, present tense: The movie starts
just as we take our seats. (The actions and verb
tenses are both in the present.)
Consistent, past tense: The movie started just
as we took our seats. (The actions started and
took both happened in the past, and both are in
the past tense.)
Using consistent verb tense
Choose the word that fits into the following
sentence without causing a shift in verb tense:
Anthony broke the track record and
home
to tell his family.
A) rushed
B) rush
C) rushes
D) none of the above
Using consistent verb tense
Choose the word that fits into the following
sentence without causing a shift in verb tense:
Anthony broke the track record and
home
to tell his family.
ANSWER:
A) rushed
B) rush
C) rushes
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I
the flu last winter at the end of February.
A) catch
B) catched
C) caught
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I
the flu last winter at the end of February.
ANSWER:
A) catch
B) catched
C) caught
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
Almost the whole flu season
by already, so I
thought I would avoid catching it.
A) had went
B) gone
C) had gone
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
Almost the whole flu season
by already, so I
thought I would avoid catching it.
ANSWER:
A) had went
B) gone
C) had gone
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I
sick for more than three weeks.
A) was
B) am
C) was being
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I
sick for more than three weeks.
ANSWER:
A) was
B) am
C) was being
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
After I
from the flu, I got bronchitis
and an ear infection.
A) am recovering
B) had recovered
C) recovered
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
After I
from the flu, I got bronchitis
and an ear infection.
ANSWER:
A) am recovering
B) had recovered
C) recovered
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I ____ taking no chances next flu season; I plan to
get a flu shot.
A) be
B) am
C) is
D) none of the above
Correcting various verb problems
Pick the form of the verb that will complete this
sentence correctly:
I ____ taking no chances next flu season; I plan to
get a flu shot.
ANSWER:
A) be
B) am
C) is
D) none of the above