Understanding Verb TenseUnderstanding Verb TenseWhat are the verb tenses?

Present and present perfect

Past and past perfect

Future and future perfect

Consistency of tense

Modals

Review A

Review B

What are the verb tenses?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

Gwen plays guitar in a jazz band.

The tense of a verb indicates the time of the action or state of being expressed by the verb.

Past Future

Present

Present Perfect

She has played in the band for three years.

Future

Future Perfect

Perfect tenses indicate that something happened or existed before a specific point in time.

Gwen will play in a concert tomorrow.She will have played in ten concerts by April.

Past

Gwen played last year as well.

Past Perfect

She had played violin before then.

Present

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?

The tenses of verbs are formed from the four principal parts of verbs.

Present Participle

Base Form

Past

Past Participle

smile choose

[is] smil [is] choos ing

smile d cho se

[have] smile d [have] cho sen

ing

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?

Each tense has a progressive form, which is used to express continuing action or state of being.

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?

Present progressive am, are, is talking

Past progressive was, were talking

Future progressive will (shall) be talking

Present perfect progressive

has, have been talking

Past perfect progressive had been talking

Future perfect progressive will (shall) have been talking

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?Present and present perfectPresent 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?What are the verb tenses?Present and present perfectPresent and present perfect

The present tense is also used in these ways:

In Grapes of Wrath, Steinbeck shows us the extremes of life during the depression.

to discuss a literary work (literary present)

In 1927, Charles Lindbergh flies nonstop across the Atlantic.

to make historical events seem current (historical present)

The sun rises in the east.to express a general truth

We recycle our aluminum cans.

to show a customary or habitual action or state of being

We travel to Utah next month. to express future time

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?Present and present perfectPresent and present perfect

The present perfect tense

• is usually formed using the helping verb have or has plus the past participle

• expresses an action or a state of being that occurred at an indefinite time in the past

Mike has been in several parades.

He has played the drum in all of them.

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?Present and present perfectPresent 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.

Yoko has been taking flute lessons for six years.

Mr. Lee has taught music at our school since 2004.

(Progressive form)

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?Past and past perfectPast 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.

They were swinging for a long time.

The two friends shared the large swing.

(Progressive form)

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?Past and past perfectPast and past perfect

The past perfect tense

• is usually formed using had plus the past participle

• expresses an action or a state of being that ended before another past action or state of being occurred

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?What are the verb tenses?Future and future perfectFuture and future perfect

The future tense

• is usually formed using will or shall plus the base form

• expresses an action or a state of being that will occur

My family will ride the train to Chicago.

We will be arriving at five o’clock.

(Progressive form)

[End of Section]

Change the tense of the verb in each sentence, as indicated in parentheses.

1. I do not miss the bus. (Change to future.)

2. Were they at the party? (Change to past perfect.)

3. By then, Keith had returned. (Change to future perfect.)

4. The team will practice for an hour with no break. (Change to future perfect progressive.)

5. My sister dances well. (Change to past.)

On Your Own

What are the verb tenses?What are the verb tenses?