A verb’s tense tells us when something happens: in the past, the present or the future. In the Tense Tunnel, Year 4 writers learn to spot each tense, keep to one tense in a piece of writing, and use helper verbs like is, was, has and will.
What your child will learn
- Tell whether a sentence is in the past, present or future tense
- Use common irregular past-tense verbs such as ran, ate, saw and brought
- Recognise continuous tenses, such as “is sleeping” and “was raining”
- Recognise the present perfect, such as “has finished”
Three times, many forms
The simple tenses are the easiest to spot: I walked (past), I walk (present), I will walk (future). The future uses the helper verb “will”.
Helper verbs make other tenses. “Is” or “was” with an -ing verb shows something going on: she is reading, she was reading. “Has” or “have” shows something already done: she has read it.
Rule-breakers
Most past-tense verbs add -ed, but many common ones change completely: go becomes went, see becomes saw, think becomes thought. These simply have to be learned through reading and talking.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. Which helper verb shows the future?
- had
- was
- will
- did
Show answer
Answer: will. We say “I will go” for something still to come.
2. Which sentence is in the past tense?
- We walked to school.
- We are walking to school.
- We will walk to school.
- We walk to school.
Show answer
Answer: We walked to school.. “Walked” ends in -ed, which shows it has already happened.
3. Which word or words fit? “Yesterday, I ___ a kite.”
- fly
- flies
- will fly
- flew
Show answer
Answer: flew. Yesterday is in the past, and the past tense of fly is flew.
Tips for grown-ups
- Tell the story of your day three ways: what you did, what you are doing and what you will do.
- When your child says “runned” or “bringed”, repeat the sentence back with ran or brought.
- Check a piece of writing for tense: does it stay in the past all the way through?