Get with Grammar! Verb Tenses - Part Twocoursematerials.eli.ubc.ca/verb_tenses_part_two.pdf · Get with Grammar! English Language Institute University of British Columbia 2 Verb Tenses:

Get with Grammar!Verb Tenses - Part Two

Simple Present vs Present ProgressiveSimple Past FormSimple Past UsePast Progressive FormPast Progressive Use

Get with Grammar! English Language Institute University of British Columbia 2

Verb Tenses: Simple Present vs Present ProgressiveThe uses of simple present and present progressive differ in the following ways:

Simple Present Present ProgressiveHabitual actions/states

General facts/Truths

Things which don’t often change (opinions, conditions)

Examples:

Hind cooks dinner every night.

Grant usually eats a hamburger for lunch.

Jenny trains from Monday to Friday.

Is Dean a corporate lawyer?

The earth revolves around the sun.

The ELI volleyball team usually beats the UBC team.

It snows a lot in Montreal.

Haruka loves cats.

Bianca lives in Caracas, Venezuela.

Jay doesn’t trust the capitalist system.

Actions happening now, in progress

Longtime ongoing activities

Examples:

Hind is cooking dinner right now.

Is Grant eating a hamburger?

Jenny is training to become an Olympic gym-nast.

The earth is getting warmer.

The ELI volleyball team is beating the UBC team.

It’s snowing in Montreal.

Haruka is petting her cat.

Bianca is living in Caracas right now.

Present Actions- happening one after an-other

Examples:

First Hind cooks dinner, then she eats and finally she washes the dishes.

Actions happening at the same time

Examples:

Hind is cooking dinner and talking to Gofran.

by Angie Gerst and Cristina Peralejo, 2011 3

Simple Present Present ProgressiveFuture Actions set by Timetables/Schedules

Examples:

The movie starts at 7pm.

Angie leaves for Victoria this Thursday.

The summer Olympics take place every four years.

Actions arranged for Near Future

Examples:

Miki is going to the movie tonight.

Angie is spending Christmas with her parents in Victoria this year.

The Olympics are taking place in London in July, 2012.

Daily Routines/Regular Activities/ Permanent States

Examples:

Mehrdad works in an engineering firm.

Young-Mi attends class at the ELI every day.

Angie spends Christmas with her parents every year.

Laurel lives with her sister.

Actions occurring for a Limited Period of Time/Temporary Actions

Examples:

Mehrdad is working at the ELI this week.

Young-Mi is studying French.

Angie is visiting her parents this week.

Laurel is living with her sister for a while.

Repeated Actions

Examples:

My roommate leaves for work at 8am every morning.

Repeated Actions Annoying to speaker

Examples:

My roommate is always leaving his dirty dishes in the sink.

Signal Words

Different signal words are commonly used with simple present and present continuous.


Simple Present Present ProgressiveFrequency adverbs (usually, sometimes, never, often, always, etc.)

Every day, week, month, etc.

Examples:

Jason drives to work every day.

Sally and Joan often meet for lunch.

My son always does his homework.

Right now

At this moment/At this time/At the present time,

Currently/Presently

These days

This semester, week, month, etc.

Examples:

Jason is driving to work a lot these days.

Sally and Joan are meeting for lunch three times this week.

Only for repeated, annoying actions:

constantly/continuously/always…

Examples:

My son is continuously playing loud music.

Now, try the exercises.

1. Choose the correct verb tenses in the following sentences. Rewrite the whole sentence with the correct verb.

a.) Aayat (commutes/is commuting) to work every day.

_______________________________________________________________

b.) Li Seul is from Korea, but she (lives/is living) in Vancouver right now.

_______________________________________________________________

c.) The children (wait/are waiting) for their Dad to pick them up from school.

_______________________________________________________________


d.) Ferris (studies/is studying) English for two hours every night.

_______________________________________________________________

e.) (Do they sell/Are they selling) idiom books in the UBC bookstore?

_______________________________________________________________

f.) Rouwen (buys/is buying) lunch for Maria this week, but Maria normally (buys/is buying) her

own lunch.

_______________________________________________________________

g.) Brandon is quite wealthy. He (drives/is driving) a BMW.

_______________________________________________________________

h.) Look! Noriko (runs/is running) to class. She must be late!

_______________________________________________________________

i.) It (rains/is raining) really hard. (Do you want/Are you wanting) to borrow my umbrella?

_______________________________________________________________

j.) Naixin isn’t Canadian. I (believe/am believing) she’s from China.

_______________________________________________________________

k.) Serena rarely (comes/is coming) to class late.

_______________________________________________________________

l.) Abdul, “I’m sorry teacher. I can’t hear what you (say/are saying) because everyone (talks/is

talking) so loudly.”

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

m.) Ameenh and Faisal (try/are trying) to adapt to life in Vancouver, but they (find/are finding) it


challenging.

_______________________________________________________________

n.) Adriana (doesn’t learn/isn’t learning) languages quickly. She (understands/is understanding)

English quite well, but she (still has/is still having) problems speaking fluently. However, she

(improves/is improving).

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

o.) Jaehoon always (walks/is walking) faster than Kyong Yi and (complains/is complaining) that

she is too slow.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

p.) Next week, my boyfriend and I (go/are going) camping. I (organize/am organizing) the gear

because I’m more experienced than him. He (drives/is driving) because he (has/is having) an

SUV.

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

q.) Miga (hates/is hating) the rain, so she (doesn’t come/isn’t coming) to school today. Actually,

she (doesn’t like/isn’t liking) living in Seattle because it (always rains/is always raining).

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________


2. Correct the errors in the following sentences:

a.) The poor people in that village doesn’t have enough water.

_______________________________________________________________

b.) The situation is get worse and worse.

______________________________________________________________

c.) Layne don’t want any money.

_______________________________________________________________

d.) I thinking about going to Japan.

________________________________________________________________

e.) Some ELI teachers doesn’t give many assignments.

________________________________________________________________

f.) Roger have a serious disease.

________________________________________________________________

g.) What the meaning of “Inception”?

________________________________________________________________

h.) My parents doesn’t like pets.

_______________________________________________________________

i.) Susan looking for a part-time job.

_______________________________________________________________

j.) Why are you study at UBC?


_______________________________________________________________

k.) When he sending us some information, we have to pay attention.

_______________________________________________________________

l.) They growing up quickly.

_______________________________________________________________

Fabulous! Think about this:

We carry our homes within us which enables us to fly.John Cage


Verb Tenses: Simple Past Form

To form Simple Past, add –ed to the base form of regular verbs

Negatives and questions are formed using the auxiliary verb “did” with the base form of the verb.

When you use the auxiliary “did”, do not add –ed to the main verb!

Form Subject + Auxiliary

Contrac-tions

Verb Examples

Positive Form

I

You

He /She /It

We

They

want

complain

research

fail

succeed

I wanted to meet Hyeyoung for lunch.

You complained too much about the food.

She researched the effects of the drug.

We failed to persuade her to come with us.

They succeeded in progressing to the next level.

Negative Form

I did not

You did not

He did not/ She did not/ It did not We did not

They did not

I didn’t

You didn’t

He didn’t/ She didn’t/ It didn’t We didn’t

They didn’t

help

learn

celebrate

disturb

impress

I didn’t help Gini with her homework.

You didn’t learn the new vocabulary.

He didn’t celebrate his birthday.

We didn’t disturb the sleeping cat.

They didn’t impress me very much.

Question Form

Did I

Did you

Did he/ Did she/ Did it

Did we

Did they

prepare

allow

stress

agree

protect

Did I prepare enough food?

Did you allow her to rewrite her exam?

Did he stress the importance of partici-pating?

Did we agree to meet tomorrow?

Did they protect the park?


Irregular Verbs

To form Simple Past with Irregular verbs, you need to memorize and use the 2nd form of the verb.

Negatives and questions are formed using the auxiliary verb “did” with the base form of the verb.

Remember BE-verb is also an irregular verb in the past with its own form.

Form Subject + Auxiliary

Contractions Verb Examples

Positive Form

I

You

He /She /It

We

They

begin buy

quit

drive

catch

I began to cry when I heard the news. You bought too much food!

She quit her job last month.

We drove to Victoria last weekend.

They caught three fish on the boating trip.

Negative Form

I did not

You did not

He did not/She did not/ It did not

We did not

They did not

I didn’t

You didn’t

He didn’t/ She didn’t/ It didn’t

We didn’t

They didn’t

choose

eat

forget

speak

understand

I didn’t choose that class.

You didn’t eat all your vegetables.

He didn’t forget your birthday.

We didn’t speak much in class.

They didn’t understand the con-cept.


Question Form

Did I

Did you

Did he/ Did she/ Did it

Did we

Did they

leave

run

forgive

lose

pay

Did I leave early enough?

Did you run a marathon last summer?

Did she forgive you for your mistake?

Did we lose contact with each other?

Did they pay their tuition fees for this session?

Spelling: Irregular Verbs

There are some spelling patterns for irregular past tense verbs:

Spelling Patterns Base form of verb Simple past form of verbSome verbs keep the same spelling in the base & simple past forms

beat

bet

cost

cut

hit

hurt

let

put

quit

set

shut

beat

bet

cost

cut

hit

hurt

let

put

quit

set

shutSome verbs change –d to –t or add –t

bend

build

lend

mean

send

bent

built

lent

meant

sentThe base form –eep chang-es to –ept in these verbs

creep

sleep

keep

crept

slept

kept


In these verbs, -in changes to

-an in the middle of the word

drink

sing

ring

sink

drank

sang

rang

sankIn these verbs, the middle vowel in the base form changes in the simple past form

blow

draw

drive

fall

forget

give

grow

hold

know

rise

run

win

write

blew

drew

drove

fell

forgot

gave

grew

held

knew

rose

ran

won

wrote

Spelling: Regular Verbs

Normally, we add –ed to regular verbs, but there are some exceptions:

Exceptions ExamplesAfter a short, stressed vowel, double the final consonant

admit- admitted

drop-dropped

plan-planned

travel-travelled After a consonant, final –y becomes –ie

After a vowel, it does not change.

worry-worried

study-studied

play-playedChange final -c to -ck picnic- picnicked

panic-panicked

Common Mistake!


Students often forget to use the regular past tense –ed ending!

Example mistake 1: Rustemkhan play tennis last Saturday.

Correction: Rustemkhan played tennis last Saturday.

Example mistake 2: They study all night for their exam.

Correction: They studied all night for their exam.

Pay attention to your past tense endings!

Try to correct yourself if you make this mistake.

Your English will sound much better!


Put the following verbs in the sentences below. Some are affirmative, some are negative and some are questions. Use the past tense.

say drink travel drop happen last win mind imagine forget visit

a.) The crime _____________________ at 7pm last night.

b.) The lecture _____________________ for two hours.

c.) _____________________ Ali’s team _____________________ the soccer tournament?

d.) Olena ______________________ her keys on the floor.

e.) Sungmin _____________________ a lot of orange juice.

f.) Stephanie _____________________ her family in Venezuela last month.

g.) _____________________ Guillermo _____________________ he had no more money?

h.) Yutaka _____________________ to Mexico last summer.

i.) When he _____________________ a child, Jay _____________________ he was a soldier.

j.) When Hanako _____________________ her husband’s birthday, he _____________________ really _____________________ .


1. Rewrite the following present tense description of the movie “Titanic” in past tense. Don’t forget to change time markers too!

On April 10th, 1912, young Rose DeWitt Bukator boards the ship RMS Titanic with the upper-class passen-gers, her mother and her fiancé Cal Hockley. Meanwhile, an artist, Jack Dawson, and his best friend Fabrizio win third-class tickets to the ship in a game. American Jack Dawson spots the society girl Rose DeWitt Bu-kater, who is on her way to Philadelphia to marry her rich fiancé Cal Hockley. Rose feels helplessly trapped by her situation and attempts suicide by jumping off the stern in 3rd class. Luckily, she is rescued by Jack. Cal must then invite Jack to dine at their first-class table. In return, Jack takes Rose to third class for an evening of dancing. Rose asks Jack to draw her wearing the precious blue diamond Cal has given her. Cal finds out and has Jack locked away. Soon afterwards, on April 14, 1912, the ship hits an iceberg. Rose finds Jack and both run away from Cal even as the ship sinks deeper into the freezing water. Now Rose & Jack must fight to stay alive. Tragically, the ship sinks on April 15 at 2:20 am. Rose survives but Jack dies. When Rose gets saved by one lifeboat that comes back, they take her to the Carpathia with the 700 people saved in the lifeboats. Rose tells the immigration officer her name is not Rose DeWitt Bukator, but Rose Dawson. Her mom, Cal, and friends of the family think that she died on the Titanic. 84 years later, Rose tells her grand daughter Lizzy Calvert the whole story. Sadly, the real love of her life Jack Dawson is just a memory.

(Story adapted from imdb.com)

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Awesome! Think about this:

Patience is the key to paradise.Turkish proverb


Use of Simple Past ExamplesCompleted Action in the Past

Action starts & finishes at a definite time - time may or may not be mentioned. If time is not mentioned, it is understood by the context to be a definite time.

The shop opened at 9pm.

Nada visited Khazeena yesterday.

Noriko didn’t go to the play last night.

Majid bought his car in Seattle. (last year, for example)

The bus was half an hour late. (this morn-ing, for example)

Series of Completed Actions in the Past

One action, then another, and another….

Tariq finished work, rode to the beach and had a picnic.

Daniela arrived at the airport, took a taxi home and unpacked her bags.

Duration in the Past

Actions which took place for a period of time in the past and are now finished.

Bandar lived in Vancouver for five years, then returned to Saudi Arabia.

Aki worked for Toshiba from 2007 to 2009.

Ladan waited for the bus for one hour.

Rouwen went shopping all day.Habits in the Past

Describes a habit which stopped in the past. Same meaning as “used to”.

Sometimes use with adverbs of frequency (always, often, usually, never, etc.)

Vera studied French when she was a child.

Yousef played (used to play) the violin every day.

Lily often played with dolls. (when she was a child)

Zoe spent (used to spend) a lot of time in Metrotown when she lived in Burnaby.

People listened to (used to listen to) cas-sette tapes in the past, but now they listen to MP3s.

Polite Offers: Present Time

Sometimes we use past tense for offers in the present to sound more polite.

Did you need some help? = Do you need some help?

Did you want some more tea? = Would you like some more tea?

Verb Tenses: Simple Past Use


When Clauses

“When” clauses always happen first when both clauses are in the simple past.

Examples:

Maryam got out her umbrella when it started to rain. (first it started to rain, then she got out her um-brella)

Xuan broke his leg when he fell on the ski slope. (first he fell, then he broke his leg)

Common Signal Words

These signal words are often used with simple past:

Signal Word Examplesago Alvaro travelled to Brazil ten years ago.

The government passed the new law six months ago.

in (plus year, month, week, etc) The Beijing Olympics were held in 2008.

Zhenhai arrived in Vancouver in Septem-ber.

last (plus time or day) Last year a hurricane hit the Eastern US.

Mengdie skipped class last Tuesday.yesterday Fabio hiked up Mount Seymour yesterday.

the other day (recent past) So Yee forgot her textbook the other day.


1. Decide why the Simple Past is used in the sentences below. Which of the following uses is each sentence an example of? Write down your answers (not just the numbers):

i. Completed Action in the Past

ii. Series of Completed Actions in the Past

iii. Duration in the Past

iv. Habits in the Past

v. Polite Offers

a.) Yoshihiko moved to Toronto last month.

____________________________________________________


b.) The winter Olympics took place in Vancouver in 2010.

____________________________________________________

c.) Megumi practiced piano every day when she was in junior high school.

____________________________________________________

d.) Did you need some more time to try on those clothes?

____________________________________________________

e.) Kevin flew with Canadian Airlines for many years.

____________________________________________________

f.) Lilia bought her bag in Shanghai.

____________________________________________________

g.) The world faced a global financial crisis from 2007 to 2009.

____________________________________________________

h.) Vincent went skiing for the first time last winter.

____________________________________________________

i.) Ayaka got up, ate breakfast, brushed her teeth and left for her job interview.

____________________________________________________

j.) Yu-Hsin dropped by for a visit the other day.

____________________________________________________

k.) Did you want to pay now or later?

____________________________________________________

l.) Huiting hung out in the mall for the entire day.

____________________________________________________

Alright! Remember:

A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labors of a spasmodic Hercules.

Anthony Trollope


Verb Tenses: Past Progressive Form

Past Progressive is formed with the past tense of the verb “to be” (was/were) +

“-ing” verb

Form Auxiliary verb “to be”

Contractions “-ing” verb Examples

Positive Form

I was

You were

He was/She was/It was

We were

They were

eating

driving

flying

studying

thinking

I was eating sushi.

You were driving too fast.

She was flying to Paris.

We were all studying English together.

They were thinking about their future.

Negative Form

I was not

You were not

He was not/She was not/It was not

We were not

They were not

I wasn’t

You weren’t

He wasn’t/She wasn’t/It wasn’t

We weren’t

They weren’t

listening

playing

reading

walking

improving

I wasn’t listening to you.

You weren’t playing as well as usual.

He wasn’t reading fast enough.

We weren’t walking too slowly.

They weren’t improving much when they were in that level, so the teacher moved them up.

Question Form

Was I

Were you

Was he/Was she/Was it

Were we

Were they

sleeping

planning

preparing

drinking

leaving

Was I sleeping during the lec-ture?

Were you planning to leave tomorrow?

Was she preparing dinner?

Were we drinking too much?

Were they leaving when John arrived?

.


Now try the exercises.

1. Rewrite the sentences using the correct form of the verb. If there is a question mark, make a question. If there is a “not”, make the sentence negative.

a.) Khalifa (eat) lunch during the meeting. (?)

_______________________________________________________________

b.) Zhan (always/arrive) late for class last session, but he has improved this session.

______________________________________________________________

c.) We (ski) down the Black Diamond slope while it (snow) hard.

_______________________________________________________________

d.) The thief (break into) Yuna’s room to steal her jewellery when she walked in on him. They were

both shocked.

________________________________________________________________

e.) Jaehoon (plan) to go on a trip to Banff next week, but had to change his plans at the last min-

ute.

________________________________________________________________

f.) Risako (behave) so strangely last week. She (not/answer) her phone and she (not/return) mes-

sages.

________________________________________________________________

g.) I (wonder) if you wanted to go to that exhibit at the Vancouver Museum tomorrow. (?)

________________________________________________________________

h.) Kunika (get ready) to go out dancing when her boyfriend called to tell her he (run) late.

________________________________________________________________

Good work! Take note:

Not to go back is somewhat to advance, and men (women) must walk, at least, before they dance.

Alexander Pope


Verb Tenses: Past Progressive Use

Past Progressive is also called Past Continuous.

Use of Past Progressive ExamplesAction in Progress at a Specific Time in the Past: Emphasis on Progressive Action

The action is already in progress at a specific time and continues after that time.

Yasar was reading a book yesterday morning.

Last night at 7pm, Hessah was eating dinner.

Yesterday at noon, the Vancouver Canucks were playing the Calgary Flames.

Interrupted Action

Simple past (shorter action) interrupts past progressive (longer action).

The tourists were sitting on the beach when the tsunami hit.

Kyle was getting ready to go out when his par-ents called.

When Sung Tae arrived in class, the students were writing their exam.

Actions taking place at the same time: Parallel Actions

Andreas was e-mailing his friends while Ploy was watching CBC News.

Were the students listening when the instructor was explaining that grammar point?

Repeated Actions - Irritating or Shocking.

Used with words like “always”, “continuously”, “constantly”.

The students were always using their cell phones in class.

Yongsuk was constantly complaining about the rain in Vancouver.

Tiffany was always leaving class to text her friends.

Polite or Unsure Language I was wondering if you could prepare some re-freshments for the meeting tonight.

I was hoping that we could leave earlier.Past Narration

Progressive used for background information

Aisulu and Mingrui were standing at the bus stop waiting for the bus. They were chatting about school when suddenly a thief stole Minrui’s purse!

Atmosphere

Past progressive to describe the atmosphere at a particular time in the past.

When Sunny arrived at the wedding, some guests were chatting, others were eating, and others were congratulating the newlyweds. The bride was smiling happily and the groom was looking at her affectionately.

Future Time in the Past Max and Aaron packed their bags in the evening because they were leaving the next morning.


Common Signal Words

The following signal words are often used with past progressive, especially “while”:

Signal Word Exampleswhile While the 2010 Olympics were taking place in

Vancouver, officials were worried about the lack of snow at some venues.

While Jiaqi was finishing his essay, his teacher asked him if he needed any help.

when When the auto workers were striking for higher pay, many people supported them.

as long as As long as her students were studying hard, the teacher was happy.

The customers weren’t allowed into the restaurant as long as they were smoking.



1. Decide why the Past Progressive is used in the sentences below. Which of the following uses is each sentence an example of? Write down your answers (not just the numbers):

i. Actions in progress- specific time in past

ii. Interrupted Action

iii. Actions taking place at the same time

iv. Repeated actions: irritating or shocking

v. Polite/unsure language

vi. Past narration

vii. Atmosphere

viii. Future time in the past

a.) Jules was reading her book while Ross was building a shed.

____________________________________________________

b.) I was wondering if we could postpone the meeting to next Friday?

____________________________________________________

c.) The judge was giving the jury instructions when the defendant entered the courtroom.

____________________________________________________

d.) It was such a peaceful country scene. The trees were swaying in the wind, the birds were sing-ing and the horses were resting in the fields.

__________________________________________________

e.) James quit his job because his boss was always criticizing him.

____________________________________________________

f.) The storm was blowing wildly last night.

____________________________________________________

g.) Abdullah was playing soccer when he twisted his ankle.

____________________________________________________

h.) Sayaka’s sister was hoping she could join us for dinner.

____________________________________________________

i.) Mariko’s family called to tell her they were visiting her the following weekend.

____________________________________________________


Patience and diligence, like faith, remove mountains.William Penn

j.) On Saturday it was raining so hard that we didn’t go out.

____________________________________________________

k.) The striking workers were protesting the company’s low wages in front of their employer’s of-fice building.

____________________________________________________

l.) The fans were standing in line for tickets to see the famous band perform. They were com-plaining about how slow the line-up was moving and wondering if they should give up when someone announced that the concert had been cancelled.

____________________________________________________

m.) Was Mohammed trying to study in his room while we were talking loudly outside?

____________________________________________________

n.) I was raising my children when you were just starting elementary school.

____________________________________________________

o.) Terrance decided that he was going to apply for graduate school the following semester.

____________________________________________________

Great job! Keep in mind:

Documents

Get with Grammar! Verb Tenses - Part Twocoursematerials.eli.ubc.ca/verb_tenses_part_two.pdf · Get with Grammar! English Language Institute University of British Columbia 2 Verb Tenses: