Progressive present, past and future tense
Lesson details
Learning outcome
I can recognise the progressive present, progressive past and progressive future tense in a range of verbs.
Key learning points
- The verb carries the tense of a sentence.
- The simple tense is a tense that does not make use of an auxiliary verb with the main verb in the past and present.
- The progressive tense is a tense that uses an auxiliary verb from the infinitive 'to be' paired with the main verb.
- The progressive tense denotes ongoing action.
- The main verb in the progressive tense always ends with the -ing suffix.
Keywords
Simple tense - a tense that does not make use of an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verb in the present and past
Auxiliary verb - the helping verb that is always paired with the main verb
Progressive tense - a tense that denotes ongoing action
Infinitive - any verb preceded by the word 'to'
Suffix - a letter or group of letters at the end of a word which creates another word
Common misconception
Pupils may think that any time a word ends with -ing, it is a verb in the progressive tense.
Sometimes, words ending -ing are acting as adjectives. We must look at the word before the word ending in -ing to check if it's a verb.
Teacher tip
Present pupils with a wide range of sentence examples where words ending in -ing are working as adjectives ('The sparkling water flowed past me.') compared to a wide range where they are working as progressive tense verbs ('He was singing happily.')
Licence
Lesson video
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Prior knowledge starter quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Fill in the blank. The __________ tells you the tense of a sentence.
Q2.Which sentence sounds like its tense is correct when you read it out loud?
Q3.Which tense tells us that the action is yet to happen / has not happened yet?
Q4.Which sentence is in the present tense?
Q5.Match the person to the perspective.
I / we
you
he / she / it / they
Q6.Which is the best definition of an auxiliary verb?
Assessment exit quiz
6 Questions
Q1.Which word class carries the tense of a sentence?
Q2.Which suffix does the main verb in a progressive tense always end with?
Q3.Match each part of a progressive tense sentence with their job.
paired with the main verb and tells us the tense
always ends with -ing and doesn't change when the tense does
the person, place or thing that does the main verb
marks the beginning and end of the sentence
Q4.What sort of action does a progressive tense sentence tell us about?
Q5.Which words tell you that the following sentence is in the progressive future tense? 'Five kangaroos will be visiting the zoo next week.'
Q6.Which word tells you that the following sentence is in the progressive past tense? 'I was learning to play the guitar last year.'
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Progressive present, past and future tense, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...
To help you plan your 3 English lesson on: Progressive present, past and future tense, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs.
The starter quiz will activate and check your pupils' prior knowledge, with versions available both with and without answers in PDF format.
We use learning cycles to break down learning into key concepts or ideas linked to the learning outcome. Each learning cycle features explanations with checks for understanding and practice tasks with feedback. All of this is found in our slide decks, ready for you to download and edit. The practice tasks are also available as printable worksheets and some lessons have additional materials with extra material you might need for teaching the lesson.
The assessment exit quiz will test your pupils' understanding of the key learning points.
Our video is a tool for planning, showing how other teachers might teach the lesson, offering helpful tips, modelled explanations and inspiration for your own delivery in the classroom. Plus, you can set it as homework or revision for pupils and keep their learning on track by sharing an online pupil version of this lesson.
Explore more key stage 2 English lessons from the Tense forms: simple, progressive and perfect unit, dive into the full primary English curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.