Verb Tense Consistency Historical Present and Literary Present Regular and Irregular Verbs Perfect Tenses

Consistency of Tense Past, present, future – you can’t switch without a very good reason! Example: Because Jerry saw the man walking hurriedly toward him, he turns and runs into his house. How would you fix this?

Because Jerry saw the man walking hurriedly toward him, he turned and ran into his house. OR Because Jerry sees the man walking hurriedly toward him, he turns and runs into his house.

Practice After Sally ate her dinner, she runs to the freezer for an ice cream dessert.

Practice Since the students found the lesson so interesting, they listen carefully to every word.

Practice Before the two boys went to the ball game, they clean their rooms.

Practice Although Michelle tries to answer the question correctly, she gave the wrong answer.

Historical Present This is one time we might switch tenses in a sentence. This tense is used to indicate something that is always true. EX: After Mark had completed his research, he reported to his class that the Himalayas are the tallest mountains in the world.

Historical Present These are harder – take a look: Chess is a very interesting game. – You can’t say “was” because that means that the game of chess no longer exists or that it is no longer interesting. Walking is one of the best forms of exercise. – It is an opinion, but it has been and still is a widely held belief of the medical community. Until something changes, it requires historical present tense.

Literary Present When you’re are talking about fiction literature, you must use present tense. Think of it like this: every time you open a novel, the setting becomes a place and the characters come to life. The character in this novel tells an intriguing story about her life. The plot of the story deals with man’s hostility toward other men.

Practice How would you change this sentence to Historical Present? The information in his report did not support the fact that light traveled faster than sound.

Practice How would you change this sentence to Historical Present? Sue was the only one in class who knew that that Nile River was the longest river in the world.

Practice How would you change this sentence to Literary Present? Yesterday I read a wonderful story that told of three young women in Paris.

Practice How would you change this sentence to Literary Present? When Janice reported on Huckleberry Finn, she indicated that Huck saw Jim as a friend.

Regular Verbs Regular verbs simply add –ed to the past and past participle forms. All verbs form the present participle by adding –ing to the present form. Ex: PresentPast Past ParticiplePresent Participle carrycarried carriedcarrying laughlaughed laughedlaughing

Irregular Verbs Irregular verbs actually change form to show tense. There is no pattern to these verbs – you just have to memorize them! You have a handout to help! The difference between the Past and the Past Participle forms is that the Past Participle requires a helping verb has, have, or had. Ex: PresentPast Past ParticiplePresent Participle beginbegan begunbeginning gowent gonegoing

Practice How would you correct the verb tense in this sentence? Do you know if John has already wrote that letter for me?

Practice How would you correct the verb tense in this sentence? Before the music ended the audience begun to clap.

Practice How would you correct the verb tense in this sentence? Will you please sit that glass on the table for me?

Practice How would you correct the verb tense in this sentence? Before my mom asked, I had already began to clean my room.

Perfect Tenses The perfect tenses use a form of the helping verb have. We use these forms every day in our conversations. Present Perfect Past Perfect Future Perfect

Present Perfect Tense Used to express the idea that an action occurred at an unspecified time before now. Ex: I have visited France. Ex: He has taken his medicine.

Present Perfect Tense Notice the difference between the past form of a verb and the present perfect form. simple past tense: Bob ran for five hours. – This suggests that he ran in the past but is no longer running. present perfect: Bob has run for five hours. – This suggests that he began running in the past and is still running.

Past Perfect Tense Used to express the idea that one action occurred before another action in the past. If you have a sentence that has two separate actions, you must tell your reader which one occurred first by adding the word “had.” Ex: Kay went to her friend’s house after she had completed her homework. Ex: I wasn’t interested in the movie because I had seen it already.

Future Perfect Tense Indicates an action that will have been completed at some specific time in the future. simple future tense: Jason will study his math. future perfect: Jason will have studied his math by 8 o’clock. – The action to be completed at a specific time.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Past Perfect in this sentence? Before Bob took the job, he researched the company thoroughly.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Future Perfect in this sentence? Mary sang three times tonight.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Present Perfect in this sentence? The dog ate his food.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Future Perfect in this sentence? By 12 o’clock we ________ here for five hours.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Past Perfect in this sentence? After we _____ home, James started the movie.

Practice How would you change the verb tense to Present Perfect in this sentence? We ________ his questions already.

Review Verb Tenses Consistency: Don’t switch tense without a very good reason. Historical Present: Indicates something that is always true. Literary Present: Every time you open a novel, the setting becomes a place and the characters come to life, so you must use present tense. Regular Verbs: Regular verbs simply add –ed to the past and past participle forms. Irregular Verbs: Irregular verbs actually change form to show tense. You just have to memorize them! Present Perfect: Used to express the idea that an action occurred at an unspecified time before now. Past Perfect: Used to express the idea that one action occurred before another action in the past. Future Perfect: Indicates an action that will have been completed at some specific time in the future.