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.
Apa yang akan dipelajari anak anda
- 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.
Contoh soalan
Berikut ialah beberapa soalan seperti dalam misi pertama. Bolehkah anda menjawabnya?
1. Which helper verb shows the future?
- had
- was
- will
- did
Tunjuk jawapan
Jawapan: 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.
Tunjuk jawapan
Jawapan: 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
Tunjuk jawapan
Jawapan: flew. Yesterday is in the past, and the past tense of fly is flew.
Tip untuk orang dewasa
- 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?