The Six Tenses:

Subject-Verb Agreement

W r i t i n g i n t h e D i s c i p l i n e s

( W I D )

G . G r i g g s & B . M o r a l e s

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Verb Tenses

Tenses represent the time of the

action, which is indicated by

a verb.

PRESENTThe baby

cries.

PRESENT PERFECT

The baby has cried.

PASTThe baby

cried.

PAST PERFECTThe baby had cried earlier.

FUTUREThe baby

will cry later.

FUTURE PERFECT

The baby will have cried before

sleeping.

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Present Tense: present action or action that occurs always, repeatedly, or habitually

The children are ready to leave for school.

David and Samuel take a bus every day.

Roxana eats cereal for breakfast.

Manuel rides his bike to school.

Jaime fishes with his grandfather on Saturdays.

The girls swim and dive at the community pool.

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Present Tense Tip!

Third Person Singular(with –s)

Third Person Plural

(without –s)Edgardo runs They runMaría swims They swim

The article explains The books explainMy teacher wants The supervisors

wantThe magazine

describesThe authors

describe

Third person singular takes a singular verb

(with – s). Third person plural takes a plural verb

(with out – s)

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He has written a text message to his friend. (CM)

I have lived in Yauco for 10 years. (CNG)

They have been friends for five years. (____)

Felix has broken the 10 K world’s record. (____)

Brenda has brought a cake to the party. (____)

We have felt sick for two days. (____)

Present Perfect Tense: Action completed (CM) at the present time or continuing (CNG) into the present

Have or has + past participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

CNG CM

CM

CNG

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Exercises Present (Pr) & Present Perfect (PrP)

1. Juan __________ a hamburger.

2. Juan __________ a hamburger.

3. Yomi _________ the ball.

4. Yomi _________ the ball.

5. Susan _________ over the fence.

6. Susan _________ over the fence.

7. I ___________ every day.

8. I ___________ every day.

Eat (Pr)

Eat (PrP)

Catch (Pr)

Catch (PrP)

Jump (Pr)

Jump (PrP)

Write (Pr)

Write (PrP)

eatshas eaten

has caught

jumpshas jumped

have written

write

catches

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Past Tense: A definite completed action in the past

The children left for school.

David and Samuel took a bus every day.

Roxana ate cereal for breakfast.

Manuel rode his bike to school.

Jaime fished with his grandfather on Saturdays.

The girls swam and dove at the community pool.

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Past Tense Tip!

Singular Plural

I ran; Edgardo ran We ran; They ranI swam, María swam We swam; They

swamThe article explained The books

explainedMy teacher wanted The supervisors

wantedThe magazine

describedThe authors described

Regular verbs add –d or –ed in the past tense for all

persons. Irregular verbs must be

learned!

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He had written a text message to his friend yesterday.

I had lived in Yauco for 10 years before I moved to Lajas.

They had been friends for five years when I met them.

Felix had broken the world’s record before Pedro.

Brenda had brought a cake to the party that day.

We had felt sick for two days during our vacation.

Past Perfect Tense: Action completed before a stated or known time in the past

Had + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

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Exercises Past (Pa) & Past Perfect (PaP)

1. Juan __________ a hamburger.

2. Juan __________ a hamburger.

3. Yomi _________ the ball.

4. Yomi _________ the ball.

5. Susan _________ over the fence.

6. Susan _________ over the fence.

7. I ___________ every day.

8. I ___________ every day.

Eat (Pa)

Eat (PaP)

Catch (Pa)

Catch (PaP)

Jump (Pa)

Jump (PaP)

Write (Pa)

Write (PaP)

atehad eaten

had caught

jumpedhad jumped

had written

wrote

caught

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Future Tense: Action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future (uses “Will” or “going to”)

The children are going to leave for school.

David and Samuel will take a bus every day.

Roxana is going to eat cereal for breakfast.

Manuel will ride his bike to school.

Jaime will fish with his grandfather on Saturdays.

The girls will swim and dive at the community pool.

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FutureTense Tip!

I am going to run; Edgardo will run

We are going to run; They will run

I will swim, María is going to swim

We will swim; They are going to swim

The article will explain / is going to explain

The articles will explain /are going to

explainMy teacher will want /

is going to wantThe supervisors will want /are going to

wantThe magazine will

describe / is going to describe

The authors will describe / are going to

describe

Future tenses use will or the proper

present tense of be with going to

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He will have written a text message to his friend by noon.

I will have lived in Yauco for 10 years this September.

They will have been married for five years next week.

Felix will have broken the world’s record for 2 years.

Brenda will have brought a cake to the party tomorrow.

We will have felt sick for two days tomorrow.

Future Perfect Tense: Action that will be complete before a known time in the future

Will have + Past Participle (verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or -n

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Exercises Future (F) & Future Perfect (FP)

1. Juan __________ a hamburger.

2. Juan __________ a hamburger.

3. Yomi _________ the ball.

4. Yomi _________ the ball.

5. Susan _________ over the fence.

6. Susan _________ over the fence.

7. I ___________ every day.

8. I ___________ every day.

Eat (F)

Eat (FP)

Catch (F)

Catch (FP)

Jump (F)

Jump (FP)

Write (F)

Write (FP)

will eatwill have eaten

will have caught

will jump

will have jumped

will have written

will write

is going to catch

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Summary

1. The present tense is used for actions in the present or actions that occurs repeatedly

2. Third person singular takes a singular verb (with –s)

3. Third person plural takes a plural verb (without –s)

4. The present perfect tense indicates an action completed in the present or continuing into the present

5. The present perfect tense uses “have” or “has” with the past participle of the verb (regular verb ending in -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n)

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Summary

6. The past tense indicates that an action was completed in the past

7. Add –d or –ed to regular verbs in the past tense.

8. Irregular verb tenses are tricky and must be learned.

9. The past perfect tense indicates that an action was completed before a stated or known time in the past

10.The past perfect tense uses “had” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, or –n)

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Summary

11.The future tense indicates an action that has not yet occurred but will take place in the future

12.The future tense uses “will” or the proper present tense of “be” with “going to” and the verb.

13.The future perfect tense indicates an action that will be complete before a known time in the future.

14.The future perfect tense uses “will have” + the past participle of the verb (regular verb + -ed, -d, -t, -en, -n).

15.For irregular verbs, see the irregular verbs handout.