Tenses of Verbs
Primary 6/ Basic 6
Reference Materials : .
- Online Reference
- Lagos State Primary Schools Scheme of work
- Mastering English
- Brighter Grammar For Junior Learners
Instructional Materials :..
- Charts showing different time intervals as in Past, Present and future
Previous Knowledge :
The pupils have previous knowledge of
- Parts of speech
- Examples of words that form parts of speech
- definition of verbs
Behavioural Objectives : At the end of the lesson, the pupils should be able to
- Define verb
- Give examples of verbs
- Mention various Tenses of Verbs
A verb is an action word or a doing word. A verb is used to tell us what action is done in a sentence. Although some verbs are also used to say what things are
Examples of verbs that are used to express actions that are done in sentences are jump, say, talk, sit, stand, cry, write, see, etc
Examples of verbs that are used to say what things are eg is, was, are, were etc.
Examples in sentences
- The goals jumped over the fence
We ate rice yesterday.
Life is good
A verb is an action word
We are happy to see you.
Tenses of Verbs
There are three major classifications of verbs which are
- Present Tense
- Past Tense
- Future Tense
The Simple Present Tenses
Present tense describes events happening now. It is used to express habitual action that is done always, regularly or regularly. It’s also useful for describing a direct action that’s not exclusive to the past or future.
Examples of such sentences that are written in Simple Present Tenses are
- Olú does his homework everyday.
- Daddy drives himself to office every Monday
- Sade washes her uniform every Thursday
- We go to church every Sunday.
- Mummy prepares jollof rice for lunch every saturday.
Sentences in present tense often have the most straightforward structure because they use root verbs and to be verbs. A root verb is the basic form of a verb, such as watch or travel. To be verbs express states of being.
The Simple Past Tense
Past tense describes events that have already happened and are completely finished. It is used to say what we did yesterday, last week, last month, last year or any period in the past. Most verbs can be made past tense by adding -d or -ed at the end of a present-tense verb, as in liked and watched. However, many irregular verbs have unique past tense forms. For example, go becomes went, and think becomes thought.
Examples of sentences in Simple Past Tense
- We saw the man yesterday.
- Daddy drove himself to office last Thursday.
- It rained last week.
- Funmi and Tosan played football last month
- Joseph was not around when Mr Ahmed came in.
Past tense is usually used to write about historical events, like so:
Nelson Mandela was jailed for so many years
Simple Future Tense
Simple Future Tense is used to express actions that are yet to happened or occur. It is used to say what we shall do in future like tomorrow, next week, next month, next year etc
Future tense describes events that haven’t happened yet. It’s useful for describing an intended action or a prediction. It’s typically formed by combining an auxiliary verb (helping verbs like will or need) with a root verb.
Examples in Sentences
Molly will finish her chores when she has time.
The word will is an auxiliary verb, and finish is the root verb. Together, they explain that Molly intends to do her chores at a later point in time.
More examples of sentences in future Tense
- Mayowa will be ten years old tomorrow
- Agbodemu will come to your birthday party if you invite him next week
- We shall be glad when it is ready
- I shall be ten years old next month
- Smith will be around by 10:00 am today.
Please kindly note that this three major categories of Tenses of Verbs can also be further divided into twelve types of Tenses in verbs which are listed below
The 12 Verb Tenses in English
Before we begin, here’s a list of the 12 verb tenses in English:
- Present Simple
- Present Continuous/Progressive
- Present Perfect
- Present Perfect Continuous/Progressive
- Past Simple
- Past Continuous/Progressive
- Past Perfect
- Past Perfect Continuous/Progressive
- Future Simple
- Future Perfect
- Future Continuous/Progressive
- Future Perfect Continuous/Progressive
The topic is presented step by step
The class teacher revises the previous topics
He introduces the new topic
The class teacher allows the pupils to give their own examples and he corrects them when the needs arise
- What is a verb
- What are the three major types of verbs
- List twelve Tenses of Verbs
The class teacher wraps up or conclude the lesson by giving out short note to summarize the topic that he or she has just taught.
The class teacher also goes round to make sure that the notes are well copied or well written. He or she does the necessary corrections when the need arises.
Prepare for the next lesson by reading about
Main clause with if clause