Verbs - Tenses and Phrases

Verbs - Tenses and Phrases

Verbs change form to show tense and to agree with the subject.

• Tense tells when an action takes place.

• Present tense names an action that happens regularly. It can also express a general truth. Example: I walk to school. Jesse rides the bus.

• Past tense names an action that already happened. Example: I rakes the yard yesterday. My brother helped my dad in the fields.

• Future tense names an action that will take place in the future. Example: I will visit my grandparents in November. We shall celebrate Thanksgiving together.

Fill in the Blank

Jesse Owen (achieve) a national reputation during the 1930s.

Fill in the Blank

He (live) his early years in Oakville, Alabama.

Fill in the Blank

Marco (admire) Jesse Owen's accomplishments.

Fill in the Blank

Marco (join) the track team when he is in high school.

Verbs have four principal parts that are used to form all tenses.

• Base form: jump

• Present participle: jumping

• Past form: jumped

• Past participle: jumped

Participles are often combined with helping verbs to form verb phrases.

• The most common helping verbs are be*, do, and have.

• Forms of be + present participle = am jumping; was jumping

• Forms of have + past participle = have jumped; had jumped

Multiple Choice

We __ learning about archery this year.

• are

• have

Multiple Choice

Slowly but surely champions __ making archery a more popular sport throughout the country.

• are

• had

Multiple Choice

During the last forty years, competitive archery equipment __ changed very little.

• are

• has

Multiple Choice

Many people __ playing in tournaments each year.

• are

• has

Multiple Choice

Archers __ founded the Nation Archery Association in 1879 for annual tournaments.

• was

• had