Instructions

  • 1

    Identify the verb. Verbs describe actions and are always marked by past or present tense. For instance, in the sentence "The dog walked," the verb, walk, is in past tense. In the sentence, "The dog walks," the verb is in present tense. In the future tense sentence, "The dog will walk," the verb is still in present tense. Both active and passive verbs are marked by present or past tense. Active verbs convey that a subject acts. For example, "He walked the dog." Passive verbs convey that a subject is acted upon. For example, "The dog was walked by him."

  • 2

    Identify auxiliary words. Auxiliary words precede the verb and function to indicate present perfect, past perfect, future or future perfect tense. Common auxiliary words use conjugations of the verbs "be," "may," "shall," "will," "has," "have" and "had." If auxiliary words do not precede the verb, the verb tense is either simple present or simple past.

  • 3

    Identify the present perfect tense by locating a past tense verb preceded by the auxiliary word "have" of "has." For example, "I have left the house" or "She has left the house." The purpose of present perfect tense is to indicate that an action which began in the past has continued into the present.

  • 4

    Identify the past perfect tense by locating a past tense verb preceded by the auxiliary word "had." For example, "I had left." Past perfect tense is employed to convey sequence. The speaker of the above sentence is saying that by a certain point in time, he had already left.

  • 5

    Identify future tense by locating a present tense verb preceded by an auxiliary word such as "may," "shall" or "will." For instance, "I will walk" or "I may walk." Future tense simply states that an action will take place in the future.

  • 6

    Identity future perfect tense by identifying a past tense verb preceded by two auxiliary words. The first auxiliary word is "may," "shall" or "will," and the second auxiliary word is "have." For instance, "I will have walked" or "She may have walked." Future perfect tense is also used to convey sequence; by a certain point in time in the future, an action will already be completed.

  • ۷ 

    Distinguish between simple present and simple past by looking for an "ed" ending, if the verb is active and regular. For example, "I walk" is simple present and "I walked" is simple past. For irregular verbs, you must learn the irregular form for past tense. For example, the past tense of "eat" is "ate." Likewise, to distinguish between simple present and simple past for passive verbs, you must know the present and past conjugations of the infinitive "to be" in first, second and third person. Examples of simple present tense with passive verbs include "I am," "You are" and "She is." In simple past tense with passive verbs, these examples correspond as "I was," "You were" and "She was."

GOOD LUCK!