✏️ WritingGrade 3Lesson 6
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Grammar — Verb Tenses: Past, Present, and Future
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Learning Objectives
- 1Identify past, present, and future tense verbs in sentences
- 2Form the past tense of regular verbs by adding -ed and recognize common irregular forms
- 3Use will + verb or going to + verb to form the future tense
- 4Name one signal word for each tense — past, present, and future
- 5Keep the same tense throughout a paragraph to stay consistent
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Mini Lesson
The tense of a verb tells the reader when an action happens — in the past, the present, or the future. Using the correct tense keeps your writing clear and consistent.
Past Tense — already happened
- Signal words: yesterday, last week, ago, when I was young.
- Regular verbs: add -ed — walk becomes walked, jump becomes jumped.
- Irregular verbs change completely — run becomes ran, eat becomes ate, write becomes wrote, go becomes went, see becomes saw.
- Example: She walked to the park yesterday.
Present Tense — happening now or regularly
- Signal words: now, today, every day, always, usually.
- Base form for I, you, we, they: I walk, we play.
- Add -s or -es for he, she, it: she walks, he plays.
- Example: The birds sing every morning.
Future Tense — has not happened yet
- Signal words: tomorrow, next week, soon, in the future.
- Use will + verb: I will go to the park.
- Use going to + verb: She is going to study tonight.
- Example: He will visit his grandma tomorrow.
Stay Consistent
- Once you choose a tense, stick with it throughout your paragraph.
- Mixing tenses in the same paragraph confuses the reader.
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Ask yourself: Can I say the three verb tenses, give an example of each, and name one signal word for each tense?
Vocabulary
Tense
The form of a verb that tells when an action happens — past, present, or futuree.g. The tense of walked is past; walks is present; will walk is future.
Past tense
A verb form that shows the action already happenede.g. She walked to the park yesterday.
Present tense
A verb form that shows the action happens now or regularlye.g. The birds sing every morning.
Future tense
A verb form that shows the action has not happened yet — uses will or going toe.g. He will visit his grandma tomorrow.
Regular verb
A verb that forms its past tense by adding -ed to the base forme.g. walk becomes walked, jump becomes jumped.
Irregular verb
A verb that changes its form completely to make the past tense — must be memorizede.g. run becomes ran, eat becomes ate, go becomes went.
Signal word
A time word that helps the reader know which tense a sentence is ine.g. Yesterday signals past; tomorrow signals future.
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