Verb Tense &

Agreement
Presented By: Group 3
 INTRODUCTION
Past, present, and future tenses

• The past, present, and future are the

central divisions of time in English. The
present represents actions happening now,
while the past represents actions that
happened earlier, and the future describes
actions that will happen later.
HOW MANY TENSES
The standard tense in English is the present tense, which is
DO WE
usually just HAVE?
the root form of the verb. The past and future
tenses often require changes or additions to the root form,
such as the suffix –ed for the past tense and the modal verb
will for the future.

• The past, present, and future tenses have four aspects,

including the continuous tense, which indicates an
ongoing action in the present, past, or future.
 SIMPLE
-The past, present, and future tenses in their standard, unmodified

TENSE
forms are referred to as the simple tense in grammar.
-It doesn't add any new information, in contrast to the other aspects.
-Simple tenses are the simplest to produce and contain the fewest
restrictions, as their name suggests.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • He goes to school every morning.

02 • It mixes the sand and the water.

03 • He tries very hard.

 PERFECT
TENSE
-The perfect tense has a slightly more detailed definition.
-It is used to ongoing or completed acts that have a
connection to different situations in time.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • I have played soccer since I was a child

02 • I have written articles on different topics.

03 • He has read various kinds of books.

 CONTINUOU
For ongoing acts or actions that take place throughout time before being

S TENSE
finished, we apply the continuous tenses, also referred to as the progressive
tenses. For instance, saying they are studying all night implies that they will
continue studying for a long time.

• Please note that you usually do not use the continuous tense with stative
verbs like want, love, have, and need.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • The boys are playing in the park.

02 • I am cooking pasta for lunch.

03 • Miss Peters is teaching the class.

 PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
The perfect continuous tense is created by combining the perfect and continuous
tenses. Similar to the perfect tense in usage, it indicates ongoing activities that take

TENSE
place over time.

• The construction of the perfect continuous tense uses a conjugation of the

auxiliary verb have, the auxiliary verb been (the past participle of be), and the
present participle of the main verb.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • I have been writing articles on different topics
since morning.

02 • They have been playing football for an hour.

03 • He has been studying in the library for three

hours.
 SIMPLE PAST
To demonstrate previous events without additional emphasis, we employ the
simple past. Regular verbs can be transformed into the simple past tense by
adding the suffix -ed (or just -d if the verb already ends in an e) to the end.

• Be careful of irregular past tense verbs, however. These don’t follow the
normal rules and use their own unique forms for the past tense. For example,
the past tense of the irregular verb go is went.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • I picked up the glass, but it dropped from my
hand.

02 • This morning I went to the store, but I forgot the

milk.

03 • Did you have dinner last night?

 PAST
PERFECT
The past perfect, commonly referred to as the pluperfect, demonstrates that one
past action took place before another.

• [had] + [past participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • She had arrived at the office before she realized it
was Sunday.

02 • This morning I went to the I ran to my car when I

noticed my wife had left already.

03 • My eighteenth birthday was the worst day I had

ever had.
 PAST
CONTINUOU
When describing a previous action that was halted by another action, use the past
continuous to show that the action was ongoing. It is also applied to everyday
actions that took place in the past but are not occurring now. It is frequently used
in conjunction with adverbs like always or adverb phrases like constantly.

S
• [had] + [[was/were] + [present participle]
 EXAMPLES:
01 • My dog was whimpering in his sleep when the TV
woke him up.

02 • As kids, my friends and I were always getting into

trouble.

03 • The children were shouting when the teacher came

in.
 PAST PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
The past perfect continuous tense is used similarly to the past perfect tense, with
the exception that it expresses ongoing past events rather than a singular
occurrence. When linking one prior action to another, the phrases when, until, and
before are frequently used.

• [had] + [been] + [present participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • Before he got his first job as a writer, he had been
working as a proofreader.

02 • I had been living on my friend’s couch for a year

until they kicked me out.

03 • It had been raining hard for several hours and the

streets were very wet.
 SIMPLE PRESENT
The root verb is frequently the only thing changed or added in the simple present.
When the subject is third person and singular, there is a significant exception to
this rule. In this situation, you append the -s suffix. You add -es if the verb ends in
o, ch, sh, th, ss, gh, or z. Drop the y and add -ies if the verb ends in a consonant
and y and the subject is in the third person singular.

• The simple present is the most basic of the English tenses. It’s used for
individual actions or habitual actions in the present.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • Today I feel like a million bucks!

02 • My brother carries the groceries while my sister

stays on the couch.

03 • It mixes the sand and the water.

 PRESENT PERFECT
The present perfect is one of the more challenging English verb tenses, despite
being extremely popular. Several various types of actions are described by it.

• Additionally, the present perfect can be used to emphasize the significance of

a completed action, especially one that happened over time.
 EXAMPLES:
01 • We have tricked him every April Fool’s Day since
we were kids.

02 • My niece has grown so much this year!

03 • We have watched movies in this Cineplex.

 PRESENT
CONTINUOUS
Use the present continuous to show an action happening right now or in the near
future.

• [am/is/are] + [present participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • I am reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the
Galaxy for the fifth time!

02 • We are eating pizza tonight.

03 • The boys are playing in the park.

 PRESENT PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
The present perfect continuous shows an ongoing action in the present that was
started in the past. It is often used to emphasize the length of time.

• [have/has] + [been] + [present participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • We have been waiting for over an hour!

02 • The team has been practicing nonstop for the

tournament.

03 • The boys are playing in the park.

 SIMPLE FUTURE
For activities that haven't happened yet but will in the future, use the simple
future. Simply add the modal verb will before the main verb's root form to create
the simple future. (Note that you can substitute the present continuous if the
activity will occur soon.)
 EXAMPLES:
01 • She will be president one day.

02 • I will not go to the wedding without a date!

03 • We will get married in September

 FUTURE PERFECT
The future perfect shows an action that will be completed in the future by a
specified time. Because it depends on another time, the future perfect is often
used with words like by, before, at, or when.

• [will] + [have] + [past participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • By the time you read this, I will have already left.

02 • By the time you read this, I will have already left.

03 • I will have been here for six months on June 23rd.

 FUTURE CONTINUOUS
Use the future continuous tense for future actions happening over a period of
time, especially when a specific time is mentioned. The future continuous tense
also shows more certainty and likelihood than the simple future.

• [will] + [be] + [present participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • By this time tomorrow, I will be drinking
margaritas on the beach.

02 • We will be attending a meeting from noon until 3

p.m.

03 • Penny will be running the marathon tomorrow.

 FUTURE PERFECT
CONTINUOUS
The future perfect continuous depicts future ongoing actions that continue up
until a certain point. Like the future perfect and future continuous, it’s used with a
specified time.

• [will] + [have] + [been] + [present participle]

 EXAMPLES:
01 • In ten minutes, my parents will have been waiting
in traffic for four hours.

02 • I will have been eating healthy for a whole year by

September.

03 • When I finish this course, I will have been

learning English for twenty years.
TENSE AGREEMENT
• The basic idea behind
sentence agreement is pretty
simple: all the parts of your
sentence should match (or
agree).
• In order to check agreement,
you simply need to find the
verb and ask who or what is
doing the action of that verb
Examples:
• Anne walks really slow -
Anne is a singular, third-
person subject.
• Donna and April get along
well -Donna and April is a
plural, third-person subject.