KS3 English Language: Tense

Tense…

A verb’s tense is determined by when the action takes place, which could be in the past, present or the future.

To make most verbs past tense, you can add the suffix, ‘ed’.

‘The last time adventurous Ahmed visited the jungle, a funny mark appeared on his hand.’

‘Visited’ and ‘appeared’ describe something that has already happened. They are both regular verbs in the past tense.

However, some irregular verbs don’t take the suffix, ‘ed’ in the past tense. ‘Bite’, for example, becomes ‘bit’ when used in the past tense.

‘The mark appeared on his hand after a jungle spider bit him.’ The past tense of a verb can also be used to describe an imagined situation.

For example, ‘Ahmed wished he had bought more lotion.’

‘Bought’ is past tense but refers to an imagined situation, not to something that actually happened in the past.

Oddly enough, in the English language we also use present tense to describe future situations.

‘Ahmed will need to visit the doctor tomorrow.’ ‘Need’ is still in the present tense, but adding ‘will’ before it means that it now describes a situation that ‘will’ occur in the future, hopefully.

Here is a handy rule…

A verb’s tense is determined by when the action takes place, which could be in the past, the present or the future.

Hang in there, Ahmed. You’ll be okay.