Progressive present, past and future tense
I can recognise the progressive present, progressive past and progressive future tense in a range of verbs.
Progressive present, past and future tense
I can recognise the progressive present, progressive past and progressive future tense in a range of verbs.
These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.
Lesson details
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.
To help you plan your year 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 year 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 secondary english curriculum, or learn more about lesson planning.
Licence
Lesson video
Starter quiz
6 Questions
I / we
you
he / she / it / they
Exit quiz
6 Questions
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