Tenses

Tenses

Middle School

Today's Lesson

• First, we will have an introduction to verb tenses.
• We will explore the past, present, and future tenses.
• You will see many examples of these tenses in action.
• We will practice using tenses together and then on your own.
• Finally, we will review everything that we have learned.

Learning Objectives

• Identify the three main verb tenses: past, present, and future.
• Understand that verb tenses show when an action takes place.
• Change verbs to match the past, present, and future tenses.
• Apply verb tenses correctly to make your writing much clearer.
• Analyze sentences to choose the correct verb tense to use.

What Are Tenses?

Tenses are changes to verbs that show when an action takes place.

Think of tenses as a time machine for your verbs.

The three main tenses are the past, present, and future.

Use past tense for actions that are already over (e.g., I played).

Use present tense for actions happening right now (e.g., I play).

Use future tense for actions that are yet to come (e.g., I will play).

Let's Learn with an Example

First, look for time clues in the sentence, like the word 'Yesterday'.
This clue tells you that the action already happened in the past.
Because the action is in the past, use the past tense of the verb 'learn'.
To make the past tense, you can add ‘-ed’ to the end of a regular verb.
The verb ‘learn’ now becomes ‘learned’.
The correct sentence is: ‘Yesterday, our class learned a new song.’

Lets Practice Together

Multiple Choice

Which sentence is written in the future tense?

• My grandfather will teach me to fish this summer.

• My grandfather taught me to fish last summer.

• My grandfather is teaching me to fish right now.

• My grandfather teaches me something new every day.

Lets give it
a Try

Fill in the Blanks

Last night, the brave knight

the dragon from the castle. Fill in the blank with the correct past tense of the verb 'chase'.

Multiple Choice

Read the sentence: 'Next week, my friends and I ________ a skit for the school assembly.' Which verb form correctly completes the sentence?

• will perform

• performed

• performs

• perform

Summary

• Tenses are changes to verbs that show when an action happens.
• The three main tenses are past, present, and future.
• Clue words like "yesterday" or "tomorrow" help you find the correct tense.
• Using the right tense makes your writing clear and easy to follow.
• Practice using all tenses to become an even better writer.