Present tense and past tense The present tense describes:
things that are happening right now things that happen on a regular basis.
The past tense describes things that have already happened.
It is important to identify the tense in which you are writing. A common mistake is to jump between different tenses.
My heart beats fast as I ran. Present tense: My heart beats fast as I run.
Past tense: My heart beat fast as I ran. When you are telling a story, decide whether your narrator is describing events as they are
happening (present tense) or looking back on events that have already taken place (past tense). Verb
Do See Write Teach Bring Understand
1. Write sentences using the past tense of the following words: do see
write teach
bring go
find eat
2. The following passage is written from the point of view of Leontes.
I see my wife fl irting with Polixenes right under my nose! She writes him secret love- letters. He brings her gifts and thinks I do not see but I do! I see everything. I will bring them to justice and prove their guilt. I will show that Hermione is lying when she says ‘I do nothing wrong’.
(a) Identify all of the verbs in this extract. (b) Rewrite the extract, changing all verbs into the past tense.
