New
New
Year 5

Writing sentences in the simple present, past and future tense

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

New
New
Year 5

Writing sentences in the simple present, past and future tense

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

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. The verb carries the tense of a sentence.
  2. Sentences can be formed in the first, second or third person.
  3. The simple tense can denote present, past or future action.
  4. The simple tense is a tense that does not make use of an auxiliary verb in the past and present forms.
  5. Tense is maintained at both sentence and whole text level (although verbs within sentences may vary in tense).

Keywords

  • Verb - a doing, being or having word

  • Tense - tells the reader when something happens

  • Simple tense - a tense that does not make use of an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verb

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

  • Maintain - keep or stay the same

Common misconception

Pupils may believe all verbs in a sentence are always in the same tense.

Use the examples in the lesson to draw out the point that to maintain sense, we sometimes vary the tense of verbs in a sentence.

When modelling writing after this lesson, narrate the tense of verbs you are using to embed this learning. Similarly, when reading aloud, encourage pupils to 'tune in' to the tense - e.g. simple present is much more common in non-fiction.
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).

Lesson video

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6 Questions

Q1.
What are verbs?
naming words for people, places and things
words that describe nouns
Correct answer: doing, being and having words
Q2.
Which word in this sentence is the verb? 'I love these poems!'
I
Correct answer: love
these
poems
Q3.
Which word in this sentence is the verb? 'They are very kind.'
they
Correct answer: are
very
kind
Q4.
Which word in this sentence is the verb? 'He has no money left.'
he
Correct answer: has
no
money
left
Q5.
Which of the following sentences contains a verb that is a 'being' verb?
We wait here every day.
Correct answer: She is a great player.
They work very hard.
Q6.
Which of the following sentences contains a 'having' verb?
We're not ready yet.
Correct answer: She's broken it!
We'll never make it.

6 Questions

Q1.
What kind of word do we look at to find the tense of a sentence?
nouns
Correct answer: verbs
adjectives
adverbs
Q2.
Which simple tense requires an auxiliary verb to 'help' the main verb?
simple past
simple present
Correct answer: simple future
Q3.
Match the 'person' to the sentence example.
Correct Answer:first person,We play here every day.

We play here every day.

Correct Answer:second person,You need to come here now!

You need to come here now!

Correct Answer:third person,They want to join us.

They want to join us.

Q4.
Match the simple tenses to the example sentences that use them.
Correct Answer:simple past,We washed the car yesterday.

We washed the car yesterday.

Correct Answer:simple present,We wash the car every week.

We wash the car every week.

Correct Answer:simple future,We will wash the car tomorrow.

We will wash the car tomorrow.

Q5.
Tick the sentence that is written in the simple past tense throughout.
Correct answer: When Mrs Begum laughed, we all smiled.
Because it snowed earlier, we will stay inside for lunch.
The town, which is close to Manchester, had many factories in the past.
Q6.
Tick the sentence that is written in the simple present tense throughout.
Mr McIntyre, who is very strict, will teach us next year.
Correct answer: As the sun rises, the temperature increases.
Year 4 will sing their song and Year 5 will say a prayer.