The simple present tells us what happens now or usually: I walk to school. The simple past tells us what happened: I walked. The simple future tells us what will happen: I will walk.
Irregular verbs change their spelling in the past tense: catch becomes caught, bring becomes brought, teach becomes taught, ring becomes rang. Make a list of the irregular verbs you find tricky and practise them.
Keep your tense consistent. If your story is in the past, stay in the past.
Worked example
Change to the past tense: “She brings her lunch and teaches the class a song.”
- Bring is irregular: brought.
- Teach is irregular: taught.
Answer:She brought her lunch and taught the class a song.
Key words
- tense
- the form of a verb that shows time
- simple past
- a finished action, like walked
- irregular verb
- a verb that does not add -ed
Practise this
New questions every time.
Common Core-referenced: L.3.1d, L.3.1e