Simple and progressive tenses
Simple verb tenses
The base form of a verb is the infinitive without to: walk, run, jump, fly (infinitive: to walk, to run, to jump, to fly).
The test won’t ask you to name a tense. It asks you to spot a verb that breaks the sentence’s time frame, an inappropriate tense shift, and a verb that doesn’t agree with its subject. The tense names in this chapter and the next are the tools for those checks.
When we use verbs, we conjugate, or change, them to indicate the verb’s tense in a particular sentence. There are three categories of verb tenses: simple, perfect, and progressive. The perfect and progressive categories can also combine: I have been studying is the present perfect progressive.
English verbs divide into two categories: those that are regular and those that are irregular. Regular verbs all follow the same conjugation patterns, whereas irregular verbs do not. Instead, their conjugations must be memorized. However, the good news is that you probably know most of them already. Use the chart below to quiz yourself and learn the ones you do not know.
Common irregular verbs
| Base form | Simple past | Past participle |
|---|---|---|
| be | was, were | been |
| begin | began | begun |
| bring | brought | brought |
| choose | chose | chosen |
| do | did | done |
| drink | drank | drunk |
| eat | ate | eaten |
| go | went | gone |
| have | had | had |
| lay (put down) | laid | laid |
| lie (recline) | lay | lain |
| ride | rode | ridden |
| run | ran | run |
| see | saw | seen |
| sing | sang | sung |
| swim | swam | swum |
| take | took | taken |
| write | wrote | written |
The past participle, in the third column, is the form the perfect tenses use: have eaten, had gone.
Simple present tense
We use simple present tense in five situations:
- Stative verbs describing the present moment: I know the answer. (An action actually happening right now usually takes the present progressive instead: I am eating lunch.)
- To state a general truth: Pollution is bad.
- A regular event: The sun comes up in the morning.
- A habit: I brush my teeth before bed.
- When we discuss art and literature: Bilbo Baggins is unwilling to go on an adventure at first.
Simple present tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I run | we run |
| you run | you run |
| he/she/it/one runs | they run |
The most common irregular present tense verb is probably to be, but many students do not recognize it because the letters be do not appear in its conjugation.
To be
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I am | we are |
| you are | you are |
| he/she/it/one is | they are |
Practice question
When the doorbell rings, the dog _____ and wakes the baby, who _____.
Choose the correct answer:
a. Barks…cried
b. Bark…cries
c. Barks…cries
d. Barks…cryes
e. Barks…cry
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
c.
Barks…cries is correct because both verbs are conjugated correctly in the third-person present tense.
a. Barks…cried is incorrect because cried is past tense.
b. Bark…cries is incorrect because the third-person singular form of bark is barks.
d. Barks…cryes is incorrect because cryes is misspelled. It should be cries.
e. Barks…cry is incorrect because the third-person singular form of cry is cries.
Simple past tense
It does not identify how far in the past the action took place, nor does it indicate how long the action lasted.
Example:
The cat meowed.
Regular verbs in the simple past tense are created by adding -ed to the end of the base form of the verb.
Regular past tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I jumped | we jumped |
| you jumped | you jumped |
| he/she/it/one jumped | they jumped |
The simple past tense forms of irregular verbs are in the middle column of the irregular verbs chart above. Like regular past tense verbs, most have only one form; be is the exception, with was and were. Quiz yourself and learn the ones you do not know.
Practice question
The coach grabbed the bag of equipment and _____ it towards the bus.
Choose the correct answer:
a. Carry
b. Carries
c. Carryies
d. Carried
e. Carryed
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
d.
Carried is correct. When a verb ends in a consonant followed by y, change the y to i and add -ed: carry → carried. If a vowel comes before the y, just add -ed: play → played.
a. Carry is incorrect because it is either the base form of the verb or the first-person singular present-tense form.
b. Carries is incorrect because it is present tense.
c. Carryies is incorrect because it is both present tense and misspelled.
e. Carryed is incorrect because it is a misspelling of carried.
Simple future tense
The simple future tense is formed by adding will or shall in front of the base form of a verb. No other change is required.
- An action decided at that moment: I am tired, so I will go to bed.
- A promise or plan: I shall complete my homework on time from now on.
- The arrival of an inevitable event: The sun will come up soon.
- An offer: I will carry that box for you.
- A threat: If you don’t eat your meat, you won’t get any broccoli.
To express that an event will not occur, insert not after will or shall. The contraction of will not is won’t, and the contraction of shall not is shan’t.
Shauna will not complete her errands today.
Shauna won’t complete her errands today.
We shall not take more than two hours to get there.
We shan’t take more than two hours to get there.
To decide which verb tense to use in a particular sentence, look for context clues in the rest of the sentence.
Avoiding inappropriate tense shifts
A sentence like I lived in Ohio, but now I live in Texas shifts from past to present on purpose, because now signals the change. Compare that with a sentence where nothing justifies the shift.
INCORRECT: Dana slipped on the ice and falls on the sidewalk.
CORRECT: Dana slipped on the ice and fell on the sidewalk.
Both actions happened in the past, so both verbs take a past tense. When one past action came before another and the order matters, the earlier one can take the past perfect (Dana had already slipped twice when she finally fell), as Perfect tense and modal verbs explains.
Practice question
Yesterday, the dog barked at the mail carrier and chases him down the street until he disappeared around the corner.
Which underlined part contains the error?
a. Barked
b. Chases
c. Disappeared
d. No error
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
b.
The sentence describes a sequence of past events (barked… disappeared), so chases breaks the established time frame. It should be chased to match the other two verbs.
Progressive tenses
To form a progressive tense verb, add -ing to the end of the verb and place the appropriate form of to be before it.
Present progressive tense
Present progressive tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I am sleeping | we are sleeping |
| you are sleeping | you are sleeping |
| he/she/it/one is sleeping | they are sleeping |
As always, context clues within the sentence help you determine verb tense.
Practice question
Krissy _____ to finish her novel before her plane _____ because she will be too busy to read after that.
Choose the correct answer:
a. Trying…lands
b. Is trying…lands
c. Is trying…is landing
d. Tried…is landing
e. Tries…is landing
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
b.
Is trying…lands is correct because it organizes the events logically from present progressive to present to future.
a. Trying…lands is incorrect because progressive verbs require a form of to be.
c. Is trying…is landing is incorrect because both actions become ongoing rather than sequential.
d. Tried…is landing is incorrect because the sentence shows Krissy is still trying to finish her novel now, so the ongoing action needs the present progressive, and a scheduled future event in a “before” clause takes simple present (lands).
e. Tries…is landing is incorrect because tries describes a habit rather than an effort happening now, and is landing is unnecessary after “before.”
Past progressive tense
Past progressive tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I was running | we were running |
| you were running | you were running |
| he/she/it/one was running | they were running |
The past progressive often pairs with the simple past: the ongoing action takes the past progressive, and the action that interrupts it takes the simple past. Context clues include while and when.
Example:
I was biking when it began to rain.
While I was biking, it began to rain.
Both sentences follow the same pattern: past progressive…simple past.
Practice question
Yesterday afternoon, Kendrick _____ a banana and playing a video game when the phone _____.
Choose the correct answer:
a. Was eating…is ringing
b. Is eating…rings
c. Ate…rang
d. Was eating…rang
e. Is eating…rang
Correct answer:
The correct answer is
d.
Was eating…rang is correct because the past progressive was eating describes an action that was ongoing in the past, and the simple past rang describes the action that interrupted it.
a. Was eating…is ringing is incorrect because the phone rang in the past too, so the interruption takes the simple past, rang.
b. Is eating…rings is incorrect because yesterday afternoon places the whole event in the past.
c. Ate…rang is incorrect because ate does not pair with playing: an ongoing action needs was eating.
e. Is eating…rang is incorrect because is eating is present tense, and yesterday afternoon places the whole event in the past.
Future progressive tense
To form the future progressive, put will be in front of the -ing form of the verb.
Future progressive tense
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I will be running | we will be running |
| you will be running | you will be running |
| he/she/it/one will be running | they will be running |
Example:
Dinner will be cooking by the time you get home.
To express a negative, use will not be or won’t be: I won’t be going to the movies this weekend.