Page 6 Verb Tenses

Recall you learned about Active Verbs on page 6 in Unit 3 Poetry.  In a story or joke, the right sense of time is conveyed through verb tense.  Sometimes getting the right verb tense in a story is difficult.

Why Does it Matter?



When Colton arrived we played video games.


When Colton arrived we were playing video games.


When Colton arrived we had played video games.

Getting the right verb tense matters to Colton!  It also matters to Kevin in the situation below. 

Using the correct verb tense makes it clear when a situation happened.


Kevin was going canoeing. He left his house at 5 pm.

  • was going = past progressive of the verb "to go" which emphasizes an action that continued, or progressed for 20 minutes.

  • left = simple past tense of the verb "to leave" shows action that happened once

He arrived at the lake 20 minutes later.

  • arrived = simple past tense of the verb "to arrive" shows action that happened once.

That's when he realized he had left his paddles at home.

  • had left = past perfect of the verb "to leave"; one action (forgetting the paddles) came before another action (arriving at the lake).


Switching back and forth between verb tenses in a story is confusing for your readers.

Pick one verb tense (past or present) and use it consistently.


Based on the verb tenses, you can determine the order in which actions took place.




Self-Assessment

To practice getting the right verb tense click here.

Irregular verbs can cause confusion. To make a verb past tense, we generally add -ed to the end, but irregular verbs have other endings. Notice the following verb tense errors.


Incorrect Verb Tense
(past or present perfect) 		Correct Verb Tense
(past tense)
I seen him yesterday. X


 

A scene is a picture.

The correct verb tenses are see, saw, seen

I have seen him in the past.

I had seen him in the past.


 

I saw him yesterday.

I had drank a litre of energy drink. X

 

Drink, Drank, Drunk

These verb tenses are like eat, ate and eaten.

I had drunk a litre of energy drink.

I have never drunk coffee before.

I drank a litre of energy drink, yesterday.



I laid on the cool grass. X


 

Lay and laid are used for objects.

I laid the book on the cool grass.

I lay on the cool grass.


 



Show What You Know

In your downloaded assignment file for Lesson 1, complete Section 2.  Be sure to save your work. 


When you have completed all parts of Assignment 1,

be sure you have renamed your file (YOURNAME) la 8-4-1
upload the completed assignment into the 4.1 Assignment file on the next page.
Check in two to three days to retrieve the marked assignment and review the feedback from your teacher.