STUDENT LESSON SUMMARY
LESSON
COPYMASTER
Basic Verb Tenses
16
ACADEMIC VOCABULARY
verb tenses: forms of verbs showing the different times that events occur
main verb: most important verb in a verb phrase of two or more words
helping verb: a verb that combines with a main verb to form a tense
HERE’S HOW
Rule 1: Use the present tenses to convey action occurring now.
• The simple present tense places actions in the present.
EXAMPLE
I like to read real-life stories about people struggling against nature.
• The present perfect places actions in a period of time leading up to the present.
EXAMPLE
I have learned that Yossi is a young Israeli on an adventure.
• The present progressive forms show the action in progress now.
EXAMPLES
present progressive: I am reading Yossi Ghinsberg’s book, Back from Tulchi.
present perfect progressive: I have been trying to resist the urge to skip ahead.
Rule 2: Use past tenses to convey action completed in the past.
EXAMPLE
In the 1980s, Yossi traveled to Bolivia to explore the rain forest.
• The past perfect tense places an action before another past action.
EXAMPLE
After his group had experienced difficulties, two men headed back.
• The past progressive forms show actions in progress in the past.
EXAMPLES
pastt progressive: The remaining two were rafting when they got separated.
past perfect progressive: Yossi had been worrying about just such a crisis.
Rule 3: Use future tenses to convey action yet to come.
• The simple future tense shows actions that have not yet occurred.
EXAMPLE
I’m sure you will feel eager to find out what happens to Yossi.
• The future perfect tense places the actions before other future actions.
EXAMPLE
Will wild animals have attacked Yossi before he reaches a village?
• The future progressive forms show actions continuing in the future.
EXAMPLES
Grammar 16
Copyright by McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company
• The simple past tense shows action completed.
present progressive: Later, Yossi will be struggling to make it out of the
jungle. present perfect progressive: The story will have been keeping you
in suspense.
Rule 4: In a narrative, switch tenses only to indicate a change of time. Use
different tenses to make the sequence, or timing, of events clear.
Standards Lesson Files
Book 5: Grammar
Grade 9
141
Name
LESSON
16
Date
PRACTICE WORKSHEET A
COPYMASTER
Basic Verb Tenses
Directions: Read each sentence and its underlined verb. Cross off any errors in verb tense,
and write the correct verb on the line. If a sentence has no error, write C for correct.
1. Often I am wondering if I would have the courage to survive in the wilderness.
2. You never knew what you can do until you are put to the test.
3. Yossi Ghinsberg’s story was so engrossing that I feel that I was with him in the jungle.
4. He has been traveling with three other men when his personal tale of survival began.
5. The group had split up: two were heading back to civilization, but Ghinsberg will
continue on with Kevin.
6. As the two were careening down the river on a handmade raft, they run into rapids,
7. During one incident, they became separated, and Ghinsberg will find himself alone
on the raft.
8. Kevin shouts, “Hang on tight!” just before Ghinsberg plunged over a waterfall.
9. I am gasping for breath as he described the horrible dance of death in the raging waters.
10. He had almost drowned, but he finally struggles to the riverbank, about to face even
Grammar 16
deadlier challenges.
142
Book 5: Grammar
Grade 9
Standards Lesson Files
Copyright by McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company
rocks, and whirlpools.
Name
Date
LESSON
16
PRACTICE WORKSHEET B
COPYMASTER
Basic Verb Tenses
Directions: Each pair of sentences contains one or more errors in verb tense. Cross off any
incorrect verb. Write each corrected verb on the line and name its verb tense.
1. If you are a science fiction fan like me, you have probably read stories about people
traveling backward or forward in time. Ever since the 1800s, science fiction authors
had been writing stories about characters using time machines and vortexes to travel
through time.
2. A vortex is a whirling mass of water or air that had sucked everything near it toward its
center. Scientists will have studied vortexes to find out whether the phenomena can shed
light on the possibility of travel through time.
3. Most of these scientists have used Einstein’s theory of relativity as a basis for their
4. Suppose a person will leave earth and traveled in a spaceship for many years at a speed
close to the speed of light. When the person returns to earth, she or he had not been
much older than when she or he left.
5. The spacecraft that we have today, however, had not been traveling fast enough to make
much of a difference in the way astronauts age—especially since most space missions
last only days or weeks. The technology for ultra-fast space travel is not available
anytime in the near future.
Grammar 16
Copyright by McDougal Littell, a division of Houghton Mifflin Company
research. According to the theory, people experienced time differently depending on
where they live and how fast they will move.
Standards Lesson Files
Book 5: Grammar
Grade 9
143