Verb Tenses — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Which sentence correctly uses the present progressive tense?
A) The birds singing in the tree.
B) The birds are singing in the tree.
C) The birds was singing in the tree.
D) The birds singed in the tree.
Are + singing (verb-ing) correctly forms the present progressive tense, describing an action happening now.
2. Read these sentences: "Maria studied all night. She passes the test the next day." What should be changed?
A) Change "studied" to "studies."
B) Change "passes" to "passed."
C) Change "studied" to "studying."
D) No change is needed.
Since "studied" is past tense, "passes" should be changed to "passed" to maintain consistent past tense.
3. Which verb is an irregular past tense form?
A) jumped
B) talked
C) drove
D) cooked
Drove is the irregular past tense of drive — the others (walked, jumped, climbed) are all regular past tense forms with -ed.
4. In which sentence is the verb tense consistent throughout?
A) She opens the door and walked inside.
B) He will pack his bags and will leave at noon.
C) They ran to the store and buy some fruit.
D) I am reading a book and watched a movie.
Both verbs (will pack, will leave) are consistently in future tense — no tense shift occurs.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. The irregular past tense of "tear" is tore.
Tear is irregular — its past tense is tore, not teared.
2. In "We were studying when the fire alarm rang," the tense of "were studying" is past progressive.
Were + studying (verb-ing) forms the past progressive tense, showing an ongoing action in the past.
3. To form the future tense, place the word will before the base verb.
Will + base verb form creates the future tense (will go, will eat, will run).
4. The irregular past tense of "shake" is shook.
Shake is irregular — its past tense is shook, not shaked.
5. Consistent tense means using the same tense throughout a piece of writing.
Tense consistency requires maintaining the same tense throughout a paragraph to avoid confusing the reader.