Name:______

Directions: Write the tense of each underlined verb.

1.  My brother borrowed Dad’s car last night to go to the library.

2.  We were eating an early dinner when the phone rang.

3.  Earl and I have collected baseball cards for more than five years now.

4.  Leon was here earlier and will be back momentarily.

5.  Your birthday will have passed by the time you receive your present.

6.  The pilot told us why the plane had landed in buffalo.

7.  You will understand my reasons for resigning if you think about them.

8.  I had been sick with a head cold for two weeks before I felt better.

9.  Harvey had been working at the garage.

10.  I will miss dinner because the team will be staying late.

11.  By the time the ambulance came, the lifeguard had revived the swimmer.

12.  Matt was my tennis partner in the last match.

13.  We have known each other for three years.

14.  Mom saw that john had decorated the living room.

15.  I took your advice and opened a savings account.

Rewrite the following paragraph, correcting any shifts in tense. Then underline each verb you changed. There are ten mistakes.

Modern baseball was once named town ball. It first become popular in the United States in the 1830’s. Wooden stakes are the bases, and the playing field is square. A pitcher is called a feeder, and a batter was called a striker. After a batter hits the ball, he runs clockwise. After a fielder catches the ball, he gets a runner out by hitting him with the ball. In the early days of baseball, balls are soft and are made by winding yarn around a piece of rubber.


Directions: If the sentence contains a shift in tense, write the SECOND VERB in the correct tense. If a sentence is correct, write C.

EXAMPLE After Doreen spent the day at the beach, she suffers from a terrible sunburn.

ANSWER suffers—suffered.

1.  The large motorboat always slows down before it stopped at the dock.

2.  Chris walked bravely to the front of the room and faces his classmates.

3.  The kitten stalked into the room and pounces on the rubber mouse.

4.  After I had begun to mow the lawn, the rain starts.

5.  The sight-seeing boat leaves at noon and returned at three o’clock.

6.  The halfback lost his balance but hung onto the ball.

7.  Huge jets always pass directly over our house and headed west.

8.  I had played the video game before I order it.

9.  When Cider ran away, Ken searches for him everywhere.

10.  After I had seen the movie, I told everyone about it.

Identify any incorrect verb forms in the following paragraph and correct them.

The war against wearing fur has became a major campaign in recent years. Some people have always feeled that killing animals for fur is immoral. Recently, however, activists have took a more visible role in the struggle against fur. Organizations have fighted to convince clothing designers not to work with fur, and their efforts have been surprisingly successful. Designers like Calvin Klein and Giorgio Armani have sayed they will no longer include fur in their collections. Many celebrities have choosed to take a public stand against furs, and several well-known models have gave their time to pose for anti-fur ads. They have send the message that wearing furs is no longer the thing to do. Some critics complain that many of the more radical activists have went too far. It is true that some have sat chained to racks in department store and have even tore fur collars from women’s coats. Others have stole furs as they were being shipped from warehouses. Such efforts have costed the fur industry a great deal, so the fur manufacturers and retailers are fighting back with publicity campaigns of their own.

1.  Conjugate the verb To Drive into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use first person (I).

To Drive / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1. I drove / 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4.______/ 5. I am driving / 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9. I will have driven

2.  Conjugate the verb To Walk into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use second person (You).

To Walk / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1.______/ 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4. You walk / 5.______/ 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9.______

3.  Conjugate the verb To Swim into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use third person (He).

To Swim / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1.______/ 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4.He swims / 5.______/ 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9.______

4.  Conjugate the verb To Fly into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use third person (she).

To Fly / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1.______/ 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4.She flies / 5.______/ 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9.______

5.  Conjugate the verb To Offset into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use the pronoun “They”.

To Offset / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1.______/ 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4.They offset / 5.______/ 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9.______

6.  Conjugate the verb To Wish into each of the 9 tenses/forms. Use third person (It).

To Wish / Simple / Progressive (be + verb) / Perfect (have + verb)
Past / 1.______/ 2.______/ 3.______
Present / 4.It wishes / 5.______/ 6.______
Future (+ will) / 7.______/ 8.______/ 9.______

Directions: Identify the tense and form of each italicized verb in the following sentences.

Example:

Woody Allen will be appearing at the film festival next spring.

-Future progressive.

1.  Luke has scored a run in almost every game this season.

2.  Venus and Serena are expecting to play each other in the Wimbledon final this year.

3.  When we returned from work, our dogs were sleeping in our favorite chairs.

4.  I hope the passengers have not deplaned before the wheelchair reaches the gate.

5.  By the time she returns home, she will have visited 13 countries.

6.  Martin has been complaining ever since the tour bus left New York.

7.  Betty had not finished her essay when Professor Snort called for all papers.

8.  He had tried to lift the weight on his own but failed.

9.  The water is running in the bathroom.

10.  It will be snowing by the time we get to the mountains.

11.  I dreamt we were on a cruise in the Caribbean.

12.  We had been waiting for at least twenty minutes when they arrived.

4