Verb Tenses

Verb Tenses

The verb tense is the grammatical category that situates the performance of an action or situation of a state, and is marked by the corresponding elements in the forms of conjugation.

• Past Tense

Past tense expresses an action or situation that was started and finished in the past. Most past tense verbs end in -ed. The irregular verbs have special past tense forms which must be memorized.

• Present Tense:

Present tense expresses an unchanging, repeated, or reoccurring action or situation that exists only now. It can also represent a widespread truth.

• Future Tense:

Future tense expresses an action or situation that will occur in the future. This tense is formed by using will/shall with the simple form of the verb.

1.  The speaker of the House will finish her term in May of 1998.

The future tense can also be expressed by using am, is, or are with going to.

1. The surgeon is going to perform the first bypass in Minnesota.

We can also use the present tense form with an adverb or adverbial phrase to show future time.

exercises and test 

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs29practicetest.htm

• http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbs30finaltest.htm

taken from: http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html