New
New
Year 4

Sentences in the progressive present, past and future tense

I can write a range of sentence types in the progressive present, past or future tense.

New
New
Year 4

Sentences in the progressive present, past and future tense

I can write a range of sentence types in the progressive present, past or future tense.

Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The verb carries the tense of a sentence.
  2. The progressive tense can denote present, past or future action.
  3. The progressive tense is a tense that makes use of an auxiliary verb based on 'to be' with a main verb.
  4. The progressive tense denotes ongoing action.
  5. The main verb in the progressive tense always ends with the -ing suffix.

Common misconception

Pupils may think that every single verb in a sentence always carries the same tense.

Avoid teaching that all verbs in a sentence always carry the same tense; maintaining tense does not always require this.

Keywords

  • Verb - a being, a doing or a having word

  • Progressive tense - a tense that denotes ongoing action over a period of time

  • Auxiliary verb - the helping verb that is always paired with the main verb

  • Suffix - a letter or group of letters at the end of a word which creates another word

Begin to gather examples of each type of simple and progressive tense in a grid or display so that children can begin to spot these tenses in their own writing and in books they read.
Teacher tip

Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2024), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of these types of word could be a verb?
Correct answer: a being word
a describing word
Correct answer: a doing word
Correct answer: a having word
Q2.
What is the function of 'tense'?
to show which person is doing an action
to show how many people are doing an action
Correct answer: to show when an action took place
Q3.
To find the tense of a sentence, what kind of word must we look at?
adjectives
adverbs
Correct answer: verbs
nouns
Q4.
In this sentence, what kind of word is 'plays'? 'Jun plays on the football team'.
conjunction
Correct answer: verb
adverb
noun
Q5.
Match each sentence to the simple tense it uses.
Correct Answer:simple present,Snow falls gently on the ground.

Snow falls gently on the ground.

Correct Answer:simple past,Snow fell softly on the hills.

Snow fell softly on the hills.

Correct Answer:simple future,Snow will fall tonight.

Snow will fall tonight.

Q6.
Match each sentence to the simple tense it uses.
Correct Answer:simple past,As we walked, we sang joyfully.

As we walked, we sang joyfully.

Correct Answer:simple future,My birthday, which I will celebrate well, will soon arrive.

My birthday, which I will celebrate well, will soon arrive.

Correct Answer:simple present,I love this song, but Jacob hates it with a passion.

I love this song, but Jacob hates it with a passion.

6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following are in a progressive tense?
Correct answer: Jacob was waiting at the bus stop.
Jacob waited at the bus stop.
Correct answer: The rain will be coming soon.
The rain will come soon.
Q2.
Match the progressive sentence to its tense.
Correct Answer:past progressive,Andeep was eating his lunch quickly.

Andeep was eating his lunch quickly.

Correct Answer:present progressive,Andeep is hoping to play basketball.

Andeep is hoping to play basketball.

Correct Answer:future progressive,Jacob will be waiting for him.

Jacob will be waiting for him.

Q3.
What is the auxiliary verb in this progressive sentence? 'Aisha was sitting down when I entered'.
sitting
Correct answer: was
when
entered
Q4.
Which word shows that this sentence took place in the past? 'Andeep and Alex were shivering with cold'.
Correct answer: were (the auxiliary verb)
shivering (the main verb)
and (the conjunction)
Q5.
Which of these sentences is in the progressive future tense?
Aisha's cousin was driving to pick us up from the park.
Correct answer: Aisha's cousin will be picking us up from the park.
Aisha's cousin is coming to collect us from the park.
Q6.
Which sentence shows the progressive past tense version of this simple past tense sentence? 'As the waves crashed on the shore, we lay on the sand'.
As the waves are crashing on the shore, we are lying on the sand.
Correct answer: As the waves were crashing on the shore, we were lying on the sand.
As the waves are crashing on the shore, we will be lying on the sand.