1. 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
2. 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?
3. 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?
4. Each tense has a progressive form, which is
used to express continuing action or state of
being.
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
5. 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)
6. What are the verb tenses?
Present 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
7. What are the verb tenses?
Present 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.
8. 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.
Yoko has been taking flute lessons for
six years.
Mr. Lee has taught music at our
school since 2004.
(Progressive form)
9. 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.
They were swinging for a long time.
The two friends shared the large swing.
(Progressive form)
10. What are the verb tenses?
Past 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.
11. What are the verb tenses?
Future 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)
12. What are the verb tenses?
Future and future perfect
The future perfect tense
• is usually formed using will have or shall have
plus the past participle
• expresses an action or a state of being that will
end before another future action or state of
being
By the time you receive this letter, she will have
returned home.
After this trip, he will have been to Chicago
three times.
13. [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?
14. Consistency of tense
Do not change needlessly from one tense to
another.
To describe events that occur at the same time,
use verbs in the same tense.
Sara peeked over the fence and saw a cornfield.
Sara peeks over the fence and sees a cornfield.
past tense past tense
present tense present tense
15. Consistency of tense
For events that occur at different times, use
verbs of different tenses to show the sequence of
events.
The pitcher wished that he had practiced more
before the game.
past tense past perfect tense
The action of wishing happened after the action of
practicing was complete.
16. Consistency of tense
For events that occur at different times, use
verbs of different tenses to show the sequence of
events.
Yesterday, Nina told us that her brother works
every week at the senior center.
past tense
The action of telling occurred at a specific time in the
past. The action of working occurs now.
present tense
17. Consistency of tense
[End of Section]
On Your Own
Proofread the paragraph for unnecessary changes of verb
tense. Change the verbs to make the tenses consistent.
(1) I was in my room Saturday morning, planning to
study for two hours. (2) To my surprise, Nancy Chang drops
by. (3) She dashed into the house, runs up the stairs, and
calls my name. (4) What she wanted was a fishing
companion. (5) As I get my fishing gear together, I was so
happy. (6) On our way to the lake, we notice some dark
clouds. (7) We wished we checked the weather first.
