Verb Tenses

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Verb Tenses

• Verbs tell the reader not just what happened, but
  also when it happened. The tense of a verb
  indicates time.The three simple tenses are
  Past Present FutureThere are also more
  complex expressions of time. These indicate that
  an action is ongoing, for example, or that it
  occurred for a long period of time and then
  stopped.You wont need to know the names of
  different verb tenses on the test. Youll just
  need to recognize how the verb should (or
  shouldnt) look.

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Verb Tenses

• The good news You choose verb tenses all the
  time without thinking about it. When you speak,
  you automatically put verbs in the proper tense.
  So, if youre stuck on a test question, dont
  overthink it. Just try to imagine how you would
  say it.

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The Past
4
The Present
5
The Future
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Strategies for Verb Tense

• You can expect to see several questions on the
  test that ask you to choose the correct verb
  tense. Click on each of the key strategies
  below to learn more about how to approach verb
  tense questions.

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Get Rid of Extra Information

• The longer a sentence is, the more confusing it
  can be to figure out the tense. Many longer
  sentences are filled with phrases that add
  description. When youre faced with a
  complicated sentence, imagine what it would look
  like without the extra information.              
                                     ExampleMember
  s of the club have, over the years, dedicated
  themselves to many causes, including local
  charities and fundraising events.Heres that
  same sentence with the extra information taken
  out Members of the club have dedicated
  themselves to many causes.  Now its a lot
  easier to see that have dedicated is the correct
  form of the verb.

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Keep It Simple

• Keep it simple.When youre looking at a verb
  tense question, the most complicated answer
  choices usually are not the correct ones.
  Remember that you choose verb tenses every day
  in your speech. If something sounds clunky and
  complicated and like something youd never say,
  it probably isnt correct.

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Tricky Verbs

• began/begun I began studying last night.
  (Began is the past tense form of begin.) I
  have not yet begun to study. I have begun
  preparing. (Use begun only after the verb to
  have.)be/been/being I was there yesterday.
  (Was is the past tense form of to be.) We had
  been there for an hour before anyone noticed.
  (Use been only after the verb to have.) The
  host, being a friend of mine, seated us
  quickly.(Being is not the verbits part of a
  description phrase. Seated is the verb.)

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Use the Clues

• You will be able to tell from the rest of the
  sentence what tense the verb should be.
  Examples I hope that next semester will be a
  successful one for me.How do you know that will
  be is correct? The sentence is about next
  semester, which is in the future. First we
  paid for our groceries, and then we walked
  home.How do you know that walked is in the
  correct tense? The verb paid is in the past
  tense. Since the sentence is about two things
  that happened at about the same time, you can
  tell that walked should also be in the past tense.