verb tense in essays

Verb Tenses

What this handout is about.

The present simple, past simple, and present perfect verb tenses account for approximately 80% of verb tense use in academic writing. This handout will help you understand how to use these three verb tenses in your own academic writing.

Click here for a color-coded illustration of changing verb tenses in academic writing.

Present simple tense

The present simple tense is used:

In your introduction, the present simple tense describes what we already know about the topic. In the conclusion, it says what we now know about the topic and what further research is still needed.

“The data suggest…” “The research shows…”

“The dinoflagellate’s TFVCs require an unidentified substance in fresh fish excreta” (Penrose and Katz, 330).

“There is evidence that…”

“So I’m walking through the park yesterday, and I hear all of this loud music and yelling. Turns out, there’s a free concert!” “Shakespeare captures human nature so accurately.”

Past simple tense

Past simple tense is used for two main functions in most academic fields.

“…customers obviously want to be treated at least as well on fishing vessels as they are by other recreation businesses. [General claim using simple present] De Young (1987) found the quality of service to be more important than catching fish in attracting repeat customers. [Specific claim from a previous study using simple past] (Marine Science)

We conducted a secondary data analysis… (Public Health) Descriptional statistical tests and t-student test were used for statistical analysis. (Medicine) The control group of students took the course previously… (Education)

Present perfect tense

The present perfect acts as a “bridge” tense by connecting some past event or state to the present moment. It implies that whatever is being referred to in the past is still true and relevant today.

“There have been several investigations into…” “Educators have always been interested in student learning.”

Some studies have shown that girls have significantly higher fears than boys after trauma (Pfefferbaum et al., 1999; Pine &; Cohen, 2002; Shaw, 2003). Other studies have found no gender differences (Rahav and Ronen, 1994). (Psychology)

Special notes

Can i change tenses.

Yes. English is a language that uses many verb tenses at the same time. The key is choosing the verb tense that is appropriate for what you’re trying to convey.

What’s the difference between present simple and past simple for reporting research results?

• Past simple limits your claims to the results of your own study. E.g., “Our study found that teenagers were moody.” (In this study, teenagers were moody.)
• Present simple elevates your claim to a generalization. E.g., “Our study found that teenagers are moody.” (Teenagers are always moody.)

Works consulted

We consulted these works while writing this handout. This is not a comprehensive list of resources on the handout’s topic, and we encourage you to do your own research to find additional publications. Please do not use this list as a model for the format of your own reference list, as it may not match the citation style you are using. For guidance on formatting citations, please see the UNC Libraries citation tutorial . We revise these tips periodically and welcome feedback.

Biber, Douglas. 1999. Longman Grammar of Spoken and Written English . New York: Longman.

Hawes, Thomas, and Sarah Thomas. 1997. “Tense Choices in Citations.” Research into the Teaching of English 31 (3): 393-414.

Hinkel, Eli. 2004. Teaching Academic ESL Writing: Practical Techniques in Vocabulary and Grammar . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Penrose, Ann, and Steven Katz. 2004. Writing in the Sciences: Exploring the Conventions of Scientific Discourse , 2nd ed. New York: Longman.

Swales, John, and Christine B. Feak. 2004. Academic Writing for Graduate Students: Essential Tasks and Skills , 2nd ed. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.

You may reproduce it for non-commercial use if you use the entire handout and attribute the source: The Writing Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

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Tenses in writing

Verb tenses.

The present tense is used to express anything that is happening now or occurring in the present moment. The present also communicates actions that are ongoing, constant, or habitual. For example:

Use the past tense to indicate past events, prior conditions, or completed processes. For example:

The future tense indicates actions or events that will happen in the future. For example:

Aspect allows you to be more precise in your selection of verbs. Aspect falls into two categories: continuous and perfect. To indicate the continuous aspect, add a form of the verb "to be" and a present participle to your main verb. The perfect aspect is created with a form of the verb "to have" and a past participle. The following chart shows twelve forms of the verb "to write" that result from combining time with aspect.

( aspect summary )

A participle is a verb form that can be used as an adjective.

Aspect in Detail

The continuous aspect is created with a form of "to be" and a present participle ( about participles ). For example:

The perfect aspect is created with a form of the verb "to have" and a past participle. For example:

The perfect aspect is often the most challenging to understand, so here's a brief overview.

Past Perfect describes a past action completed before another. For example, the next two sentences describe one action followed by another, but each achieves a different rhetorical effect by using different verb forms.

"Wrote" and "reread" sound equally important in the first sentence. In the second, the past perfect form "had written" emphasizes the action "reread."

Present Perfect refers to completed actions which endure to the present or whose effects are still relevant.

Future Perfect refers to an action that will be completed in the future.

One final note: the terms used to describe aspect have changed over time, and different terms are often used to describe the same aspect. It may help to know that the following terms are equivalent:

• "simple present" (or) "present indefinite"
• "past continuous" (or) "past progressive" (or) "past imperfect"
• "past complete" (or) "past perfect"
• "past perfect continuous" (or) "past perfect progressive"

Verb Tenses in Context

Conventions governing the use of tenses in academic writing differ somewhat from ordinary usage. Below we cover the guidelines for verb tenses in a variety of genres.

Academic Writing

• Books, Plays, Poems, Movies, etc.

Historical Contrast

Research proposals, resumes and cover letters, stories/narrative prose.

1. Academic writing generally concerns writing about research. As such, your tense choices can indicate to readers the status of the research you're citing. You have several options for communicating research findings, and each has a different rhetorical effect. For example:

• 1.3 According to McMillan (1996), the most common cause of death was car accidents.

If you choose the present tense, as in Example 1.1, you're implying that the findings of the research are generally accepted, whereas the present perfect tense in 1.2 implies not only general acceptance but also current relevance and, possibly, the continuity of the findings as an authoritative statement on the causes of death. On the other hand, the past tense in Example 1.3 emphasizes the finding at the time the research was conducted, rather than its current acceptance.

However, if you are writing about specific research methods, the process of research and data collection, or what happened during the research process, you will more commonly use the past tense, as you would normally use in conversation. The reason is that, in this instance, you are not emphasizing the findings of the research or its significance, but talking about events that occurred in the past. Here is an example:

• 1.4 During the data collection process, Quirk conducted 27 interviews with students in his class. Prior to the interviews, the students responded to a brief questionnaire.

Books, Poems, Plays, Movies

2. When you are discussing a book, poem, movie, play, or song the convention in disciplines within the humanities is to use the present tense, as in:

• 2.1 In An Introduction to English Grammar (2006), Noam Chomsky discusses several types of syntactic structures.
• 2.2 In Paradise Lost , Milton sets up Satan as a hero who changes the course of history.

3. In cases where it is useful to contrast different ideas that originate from different periods , you can use the past and the present or present perfect tense to do so. The past tense implies that an idea or a theory has lost its currency or validity, while the present tense conveys relevance or the current state of acceptance.

For example, when you want to discuss the fact that a theory or interpretation has been supplanted by new perspectives on the subject:

• 3.1 Stanley Fish (1993) maintained a reader-response stance in his analysis of Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso . However, recent literary critics consider/have considered this stance to be inappropriate for the two poems.

The verb tenses used above emphasize the contrast between the old view (by Stanley Fish), which is indicated by the past tense, and the new view (by "recent literary critics"), which is indicated by the present tense or the present perfect tense. The difference between the present tense and the present perfect (i.e. between consider and have considered ) is that the present perfect suggests that the current view has been held for some time.

4. The future tense is standard in research proposals because they largely focus on plans for the future. However, when writing your research paper, use the past tense to discuss the data collection processes, since the development of ideas or experiments— the process of researching that brings the reader to your ultimate findings—occurred in the past.

5. In a resume, the past tense is used for reporting past experience and responsibilities. However, in a statement of purpose, a personal statement, or a cover letter, the present perfect tense is commonly used to relate past experience to present abilities, e.g., "I have managed fourteen employees."

6. The past tense is commonly used when writing a narrative or a story , as in:

• 6.1 Once upon a time, there was a peaceful kingdom in the heart of a jungle . . .

Some writers use the present tense in telling stories, a technique called the "historical present" that creates an air of vividness and immediacy. For example:

• 6.2 Yesterday when I was walking around downtown, the craziest thing happened. This guy in a suit comes up to me, and says , "If you know what's good for you . . . "

In this example, the speaker switches from the past tense in giving context for the story to the present tense in relating the events themselves.

Back to Grammar in College Writing

• Verb Tenses and Agreement

There are three standard tenses in English: past, present and future. All three of these tenses have simple and more complex forms. For now we’ll just focus on the simple present (things happening now), the simple past (things that happened before), and the simple future (things that will happen later).

• Simple Present: work(s)
• Simple Past: worked
• Simple Future: will work

The singular third person requires a slightly different present then other persons. Look at the tables below to see the correct tenses for each person:

Let’s look at the verb  to walk for an example:

Identify the tense of the following sentences. You can type your answers in the text field below:

• Alejandra directed a play.
• Lena will show me how to use a microscope.
• Isaac eats a lot of steaks.
• Directed is in the past tense; the word ends with an – ed .
• Will show is in the present tense; the first part of the two-word verb is  will .
• Eats is in the present tense; the only ending it has is indicating that Isaac is a third-person subject of the sentence.

Irregular Verbs

There are a lot of irregular verbs. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of memorization involved in keeping them straight. This video shows a few of the irregular verbs you’ll have to use the most often ( to be ,  to have , to do , and  to say ):

Here are the tables for  to be and  to have for a quick reference:

Here’s a list of several irregular past tense verbs.

Change the tense of each sentence as directed below. You can type your answers in the text field below:

• Make this sentence present tense: Ysabella was really good at getting others to open up.
• Make this sentence past tense: Rodrigo will have a B+ in his math class.
• Make this sentence future tense: Amanda said she didn’t want to go to the party.
• Make this sentence past tense: Jordan does five hundred sit-ups.
• Make this sentence present tense: Marcela ran a car wash down the street from my house.
• Ysabella is  really good at getting others to open up.
• Rodrigo had  a B+ in his math class.
• Notice that when the tense of the first verb changed, the tense of the second verb did as well.
• Jordan did  five hundred sit-ups.
• Marcela runs  a car wash down the street from my house.

Tense Agreement

• I really am (first-person singular) vs. We really are (first-person plural)
• The boy sings (third-person singular) vs. The boys sing (third-person plural)

Compound subjects are plural, and their verbs should agree. Look at the following sentence for an example:

A pencil, a backpack, and a notebook were issued to each student.

Verbs will never agree with nouns that are in phrases. To make verbs agree with their subjects, follow this example:

The direction of the three plays is the topic of my talk.

The subject of “my talk” is the direction, not plays , so the verb should be singular.

In the English language, verbs usually come after subjects. But when this order is reversed, the writer must make the verb agree with the subject, not with a noun that happens to precede it. For example:

Beside the house stand sheds filled with tools.

The subject is sheds ; it is plural, so the verb must be stand .

Choose the correct verb to make the sentences agree:

• Ann (walk / walks) really slowly.
• You (is / am / are) dating Tom?
• Donna and April (get / gets) along well.
• Chris and Ben (is / am / are) the best duo this company has ever seen.
• Ann is a singular, third-person subject.
• You is a singular, second-person subject.
• Donna and April is a plural, third-person subject.
• Chris and Ben is a plural, third-person subject.

Consistency

One of the most common mistakes in writing is a lack of tense consistency. Writers often start a sentence in one tense but ended up in another. Look back at that sentence. Do you see the error? The first verb  start is in the present tense, but  ended is in the past tense. The correct version of the sentence would be “Writers often start a sentence in one tense but end up in another.”

These mistakes often occur when writers change their minds halfway through writing the sentence, or when they come back and make changes but only end up changing half the sentence. It is very important to maintain a consistent tense, not just in a sentence but across paragraphs and pages. Decide if something happened, is happening, or will happen and then stick with that choice.

Read through the following paragraphs. Can you spot the errors in tense? Type your corrected passage in the text frame below:

Not only is hiking an easy activity to pick up, it also will have some great payoffs. As you walked through canyons and climbed up mountains, you can see things that you wouldn’t otherwise. The views are breathtaking, and you will get a great opportunity to meditate on the world and your role in it. The summit of a mountain is unlike any other place in the world.

If you want to pick up a new outdoor activity, hiking is a great option to consider. (1) It’s a sport that can be suited for a beginner or an expert—it just depends on the difficulty hikes you choose. However, even the earliest beginners can complete difficult hikes (2) if they pace themselves and are physically fit.

(3) Not only is hiking an easy activity to pick up, it also  has some great payoffs. (4) As you walk through canyons and climb up mountains, you can see things that you wouldn’t otherwise. (5) The views are breathtaking, and you get a great opportunity to meditate on the world and your role in it. The summit of a mountain is unlike any other place in the world.

Here’s each original sentence, along with an explanation for the changes:

• depended should be the same tense as  is ; it just depends on the difficulty
• were  should be the same tense as  pace ; if they pace themselves and are physically fit.
• will have should be the same tense as  is ; it also has some great pay offs
• walked and  climbed are both past tense, but this doesn’t match the tense of the passage as a whole. They should both be changed to present tense: As you  walk through canyons and  climb up mountains.
• will get should be the same tense as  are ; you get a great opportunity

Read the following sentences and identify any errors in verb tense. Type your corrections in the text frame below:

• Whenever Maudeline goes to the grocery store, she had made a list and stick to it.
• This experiment turned out to be much more complicated than Felipe thought it would be. It ended up being a procedure that was seventeen steps long, instead of the original eight that he had planned.
• I applied to some of the most prestigious medical schools. I hope the essays I write get me in!
• had made  and stick  do not match the present tense that was set up by goes . The sentence should read, “Whenever Maudeline goes to the store, she  makes a list and sticks to it.”
• This sentence is correct.
• applied and  write do not match tense. If you’ve already applied, hopefully you’ve already written your essays as well! The sentences should read, “I applied to some of the most prestigious medical schools. I hope the essays I wrote get me in!”
• Text: Verb Tenses. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Revision and Adaptation. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Text: Verb Tense Consistency. Provided by : Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution
• Introduction to irregular verbs. Authored by : David Rheinstrom. Provided by : Khan Academy. Located at : https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/grammar/partsofspeech/grammar-verbs/v/introduction-to-irregular-verbs-the-parts-of-speech-grammar . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Rhetoric and Composition/Parts of Speech. Provided by : Wikibooks. Located at : https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Rhetoric_and_Composition/Parts_of_Speech#Verbs . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Agreement (linguistics). Provided by : Wikipedia. Located at : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agreement_(linguistics) . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Image of speech bubbles. Authored by : Gregor Cresnar. Provided by : The Noun Project. Located at : https://thenounproject.com/search/?q=agreed&i=441045 . License : CC BY: Attribution
• Hiker At The Mountain Top. Authored by : Jean Beaufort. Provided by : Public Domain Pictures. Located at : http://www.publicdomainpictures.net/view-image.php?image=171368&picture=hiker-at-the-mountain-top . License : Public Domain: No Known Copyright
• Table of Contents

Instructor Resources (available upon sign-in)

• Overview of Instructor Resources
• Quiz Survey

Reading: Types of Reading Material

• Introduction to Reading
• Outcome: Types of Reading Material
• Characteristics of Texts, Part 1
• Characteristics of Texts, Part 2
• Characteristics of Texts, Part 3
• Characteristics of Texts, Conclusion
• Self Check: Types of Writing

Reading: Reading Strategies

• Outcome: Reading Strategies
• The Rhetorical Situation
• Academic Reading Strategies
• Self Check: Reading Strategies

Reading: Specialized Reading Strategies

• Outcome: Specialized Reading Strategies
• Online Reading Comprehension
• How to Read Effectively in Math
• How to Read Effectively in the Social Sciences
• How to Read Effectively in the Sciences
• 5 Step Approach for Reading Charts and Graphs
• Self Check: Specialized Reading Strategies

Reading: Vocabulary

• Outcome: Vocabulary
• Strategies to Improve Your Vocabulary
• Using Context Clues
• The Relationship Between Reading and Vocabulary
• Self Check: Vocabulary

Reading: Thesis

• Outcome: Thesis
• Locating and Evaluating Thesis Statements
• The Organizational Statement
• Self Check: Thesis

Reading: Supporting Claims

• Outcome: Supporting Claims
• Types of Support
• Supporting Claims
• Self Check: Supporting Claims

Reading: Logic and Structure

• Outcome: Logic and Structure
• Rhetorical Modes
• Inductive and Deductive Reasoning
• Diagramming and Evaluating Arguments
• Logical Fallacies
• Evaluating Appeals to Ethos, Logos, and Pathos
• Self Check: Logic and Structure

Reading: Summary Skills

• Outcome: Summary Skills
• How to Annotate
• Paraphrasing
• Quote Bombs
• Summary Writing
• Self Check: Summary Skills
• Conclusion to Reading

Writing Process: Topic Selection

• Introduction to Writing Process
• Outcome: Topic Selection
• Starting a Paper
• Choosing and Developing Topics
• Back to the Future of Topics
• Developing Your Topic
• Self Check: Topic Selection

Writing Process: Prewriting

• Outcome: Prewriting
• Prewriting Strategies for Diverse Learners
• Rhetorical Context
• Working Thesis Statements
• Self Check: Prewriting

Writing Process: Finding Evidence

• Outcome: Finding Evidence
• Using Personal Examples
• Performing Background Research
• Listening to Sources, Talking to Sources
• Self Check: Finding Evidence

Writing Process: Organizing

• Outcome: Organizing
• Moving Beyond the Five-Paragraph Theme
• Introduction to Argument
• The Three-Story Thesis
• Organically Structured Arguments
• Logic and Structure
• The Perfect Paragraph
• Introductions and Conclusions
• Self Check: Organizing

Writing Process: Drafting

• Outcome: Drafting
• From Outlining to Drafting
• Flash Drafts
• Self Check: Drafting

Writing Process: Revising

• Outcome: Revising
• Seeking Input from Others
• Responding to Input from Others
• The Art of Re-Seeing
• Higher Order Concerns
• Self Check: Revising

Writing Process: Proofreading

• Outcome: Proofreading
• Lower Order Concerns
• Proofreading Advice
• "Correctness" in Writing
• The Importance of Spelling
• Punctuation Concerns
• Self Check: Proofreading
• Conclusion to Writing Process

Research Process: Finding Sources

• Introduction to Research Process
• Outcome: Finding Sources
• The Research Process
• Finding Sources
• What are Scholarly Articles?
• Finding Scholarly Articles and Using Databases
• Database Searching
• Advanced Search Strategies
• Preliminary Research Strategies
• Reading and Using Scholarly Sources
• Self Check: Finding Sources

Research Process: Source Analysis

• Outcome: Source Analysis
• Evaluating Sources
• CRAAP Analysis
• Evaluating Websites
• Synthesizing Sources
• Self Check: Source Analysis

Research Process: Writing Ethically

• Outcome: Writing Ethically
• Academic Integrity
• Defining Plagiarism
• Avoiding Plagiarism
• Using Sources in Your Writing
• Self Check: Writing Ethically

Research Process: MLA Documentation

• Introduction to MLA Documentation
• Outcome: MLA Documentation
• MLA Document Formatting
• MLA Works Cited
• Creating MLA Citations
• MLA In-Text Citations
• Self Check: MLA Documentation
• Conclusion to Research Process

Grammar: Nouns and Pronouns

• Introduction to Grammar
• Outcome: Nouns and Pronouns
• Pronoun Cases and Types
• Pronoun Antecedents
• Try It: Nouns and Pronouns
• Self Check: Nouns and Pronouns

Grammar: Verbs

• Outcome: Verbs
• Non-Finite Verbs
• Complex Verb Tenses
• Try It: Verbs
• Self Check: Verbs

Grammar: Other Parts of Speech

• Outcome: Other Parts of Speech
• Comparing Adjectives and Adverbs
• Adjectives and Adverbs
• Conjunctions
• Prepositions
• Try It: Other Parts of Speech
• Self Check: Other Parts of Speech

Grammar: Punctuation

• Outcome: Punctuation
• End Punctuation
• Hyphens and Dashes
• Apostrophes and Quotation Marks
• Brackets, Parentheses, and Ellipses
• Semicolons and Colons
• Try It: Punctuation
• Self Check: Punctuation

Grammar: Sentence Structure

• Outcome: Sentence Structure
• Parts of a Sentence
• Common Sentence Structures
• Run-on Sentences
• Sentence Fragments
• Parallel Structure
• Try It: Sentence Structure
• Self Check: Sentence Structure

Grammar: Voice

• Outcome: Voice
• Active and Passive Voice
• Using the Passive Voice
• Conclusion to Grammar
• Try It: Voice
• Self Check: Voice

Success Skills

• Introduction to Success Skills
• Habits for Success
• Critical Thinking
• Time Management
• Writing in College
• Computer-Based Writing
• Conclusion to Success Skills

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• Knowledge Base
• Academic writing

Tense tendencies in academic texts

Published on September 30, 2014 by Shane Bryson . Revised on August 9, 2024.

Different sections of academic papers ( theses , dissertations and essays ) tend to use different tenses . The following is a breakdown of these tendencies by section. Please note that while it is useful to keep these tendencies in mind, there may be exceptions. The breakdown below should help guide your writing, but keep in mind that you may have to shift tenses in any given section, depending on your topic matter.

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Table of contents

Abstract or summary, introduction, theoretical framework, literature review, methods and results, conclusions or discussion, limitations, recommendations and implications, other interesting articles, present simple: for facts and general truisms; to say what the paper does.

This thesis examines the ways that ecological poetry relates to political activism.

Our research suggests better economic policies.

Present perfect: for past events or research still relevant to the present

Thinkers have examined how ecological poetry relates to political activism.

Other economists have suggested different economic policies.

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Present simple: to say what the paper does and why it is important

This research is relevant to how we understand the role of poetry.

Effective economic policies help societies to prosper.

Past simple: to provide historical background

In his time, Thoreau concerned himself with living in harmony with nature.

Ronald Reagan’s policies changed America’s political landscape.  

Present simple: to describe theories and provide definitions

In lyric poetry, the speaker presents his perspective on a given situation.

“Reaganomics” refers to the economic policies of Reagan administration.

Present perfect: for past research still relevant to the paper’s current research

Past simple: to describe specific steps or actions of past researchers, past simple: for events that began and ended in the past, such as an experiment.

We conducted semi-structured interviews with the participants.

We found that participants had much to say about their workplaces.

A multivariate linear regression was used.

Present simple: to describe a tool’s function (which does not change over time)

Multivariate linear regressions are  relevant to use for sets of correlated random variables.

Present simple: for interpretations of data

The results indicate a steady increase in net gain for x and y companies.

We cannot conclude that this growth will continue on the basis of this study.

Past simple: for details about how the study happened

The sample size was adequate for a qualitative analysis, but it was not big enough to provide good grounds for predictions.

Modal auxiliary to indicate lack of a certain outcome or simple future with hedging word: for thoughts on what future studies might focus on, and for careful predictions

Modal auxiliary : Responses to the survey suggest that many more people in this profession may be unsatisfied with their vacation time.

Modal auxiliary : Future research should conduct more sustained investigations of this phenomenon.

Simple future with hedging word : The results of the study indicate that the glaciers will likely continue to melt.

If you want to know more about AI for academic writing, AI tools, or fallacies make sure to check out some of our other articles with explanations and examples or go directly to our tools!

• Begging the question fallacy
• Hasty generalization fallacy
• Equivocation fallacy
• False cause fallacy
• Sunk cost fallacy
• Deep learning
• Generative AI
• Machine learning
• Reinforcement learning
• Supervised vs. unsupervised learning

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• Paraphrasing Tool
• Text Summarizer
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Verb Tense Consistency

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Throughout this document, example sentences with nonstandard or inconsistent usage have verbs in red .

Controlling shifts in verb tense

Writing often involves telling stories. Sometimes we narrate a story as our main purpose in writing; sometimes we include brief anecdotes or hypothetical scenarios as illustrations or reference points in an essay.

Even an essay that does not explicitly tell a story involves implied time frames for the actions discussed and states described. Changes in verb tense help readers understand the temporal relationships among various narrated events. But unnecessary or inconsistent shifts in tense can cause confusion.

Generally, writers maintain one tense for the main discourse and indicate changes in time frame by changing tense relative to that primary tense, which is usually either simple past or simple present. Even apparently non-narrative writing should employ verb tenses consistently and clearly.

General guideline: Do not shift from one tense to another if the time frame for each action or state is the same.

Explains is present tense, referring to a current state; asked is past, but should be present ( ask ) because the students are currently continuing to ask questions during the lecture period.

CORRECTED: The instructor explains the diagram to students who ask questions during the lecture.

Darkened and sprang up are past tense verbs; announces is present but should be past ( announced ) to maintain consistency within the time frame.

CORRECTED: About noon the sky darkened , a breeze sprang up , and a low rumble announced the approaching storm.

Walk is present tense but should be past to maintain consistency within the time frame ( yesterday ); rode is past, referring to an action completed before the current time frame.

CORRECTED: Yesterday we walked to school but later rode the bus home.

General guideline: Do shift tense to indicate a change in time frame from one action or state to another.

Love is present tense, referring to a current state (they still love it now;) built is past, referring to an action completed before the current time frame (they are not still building it.)

Began is past tense, referring to an action completed before the current time frame; had reached is past perfect, referring to action from a time frame before that of another past event (the action of reaching was completed before the action of beginning.)

Are installing is present progressive, referring to an ongoing action in the current time frame (the workers are still installing, and have not finished;) will need is future, referring to action expected to begin after the current time frame (the concert will start in the future, and that's when it will need amplification.)

Controlling shifts in a paragraph or essay

General guideline: Establish a primary tense for the main discourse, and use occasional shifts to other tenses to indicate changes in time frame.

• Rely on past tense to narrate events and to refer to an author or an author's ideas as historical entities (biographical information about a historical figure or narration of developments in an author's ideas over time).
• Use present tense to state facts, to refer to perpetual or habitual actions, and to discuss your own ideas or those expressed by an author in a particular work. Also use present tense to describe action in a literary work, movie, or other fictional narrative. Occasionally, for dramatic effect, you may wish to narrate an event in present tense as though it were happening now. If you do, use present tense consistently throughout the narrative, making shifts only where appropriate.
• Future action may be expressed in a variety of ways, including the use of will, shall, is going to, are about to, tomorrow and other adverbs of time, and a wide range of contextual cues.

Using other tenses in conjunction with simple tenses

It is not always easy (or especially helpful) to try to distinguish perfect and/or progressive tenses from simple ones in isolation, for example, the difference between simple past progressive ("She was eating an apple") and present perfect progressive ("She has been eating an apple"). Distinguishing these sentences in isolation is possible, but the differences between them make clear sense only in the context of other sentences since the time-distinctions suggested by different tenses are relative to the time frame implied by the verb tenses in surrounding sentences or clauses.

Example 1: Simple past narration with perfect and progressive elements

On the day in question...

By the time Tom noticed the doorbell, it had already rung three times. As usual, he had been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turned the stereo down and stood up to answer the door. An old man was standing on the steps. The man began to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example, the progressive verbs had been listening and was standing suggest action underway at the time some other action took place. The stereo-listening was underway when the doorbell rang. The standing on the steps was underway when the door was opened. The past perfect progressive verb had been listening suggests action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that was still underway as another action began.

If the primary narration is in the present tense, then the present progressive or present perfect progressive is used to indicate action that is or has been underway as some other action begins. This narrative style might be used to describe a scene from a novel, movie, or play, since action in fictional narratives is conventionally treated as always present. For example, we refer to the scene in Hamlet in which the prince first speaks (present) to the ghost of his dead father or the final scene in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing , which takes place (present) the day after Mookie has smashed (present perfect) the pizzeria window. If the example narrative above were a scene in a play, movie, or novel, it might appear as follows.

Example 2: Simple present narration with perfect and progressive elements

In this scene...

By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it has already rung three times. As usual, he has been listening to loud music on his stereo. He turns the stereo down and stands up to answer the door. An old man is standing on the steps. The man begins to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example as in the first one, the progressive verbs has been listening and is standing indicate action underway as some other action takes place. The present perfect progressive verb has been listening suggests action that began in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that is still underway as another action begins. The remaining tense relationships parallel those in the first example.

In all of these cases, the progressive or -ing part of the verb merely indicates ongoing action, that is, action underway as another action occurs. The general comments about tense relationships apply to simple and perfect tenses, regardless of whether there is a progressive element involved.

It is possible to imagine a narrative based on a future time frame as well, for example, the predictions of a psychic or futurist. If the example narrative above were spoken by a psychic, it might appear as follows.

Example 3: Simple future narration with perfect and progressive elements

Sometime in the future...

By the time Tom notices the doorbell, it will have already rung three times. As usual, he will have been listening to loud music on his stereo. He will turn the stereo down and will stand up to answer the door. An old man will be standing on the steps. The man will begin to speak slowly, asking for directions.

In this example as in the first two, the progressive verbs will have been listening and will be standing indicate ongoing action. The future perfect progressive verb will have been listening suggests action that will begin in the time frame prior to the main narrative time frame and that will still be underway when another action begins. The verb notices here is in present-tense form, but the rest of the sentence and the full context of the narrative cue us to understand that it refers to future time. The remaining tense relationships parallel those in the first two examples.

General guidelines for use of perfect tenses

In general the use of perfect tenses is determined by their relationship to the tense of the primary narration. If the primary narration is in simple past, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in past perfect. If the primary narration is in simple present, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in present perfect. If the primary narration is in simple future, then action initiated before the time frame of the primary narration is described in future perfect.

Past primary narration corresponds to Past Perfect ( had + past participle) for earlier time frames

Present primary narration corresponds to Present Perfect ( has or have + past participle) for earlier time frames

Future primary narration corresponds to Future Perfect ( will have + past participle) for earlier time frames

The present perfect is also used to narrate action that began in real life in the past but is not completed, that is, may continue or may be repeated in the present or future. For example: "I have run in four marathons" (implication: "so far... I may run in others"). This usage is distinct from the simple past, which is used for action that was completed in the past without possible continuation or repetition in the present or future. For example: "Before injuring my leg, I ran in four marathons" (implication: "My injury prevents me from running in any more marathons").

Time-orienting words and phrases like before, after, by the time , and others—when used to relate two or more actions in time—can be good indicators of the need for a perfect-tense verb in a sentence.

• By the time the senator finished (past) his speech, the audience had lost (past perfect) interest.
• By the time the senator finishes (present: habitual action) his speech, the audience has lost (present perfect) interest.
• By the time the senator finishes (present: suggesting future time) his speech, the audience will have lost (future perfect) interest.
• After everyone had finished (past perfect) the main course, we offered (past) our guests dessert.
• After everyone has finished (present perfect) the main course, we offer (present: habitual action) our guests dessert.
• After everyone has finished (present perfect) the main course, we will offer (future: specific one-time action) our guests dessert.
• Long before the sun rose (past), the birds had arrived (past perfect) at the feeder.
• Long before the sun rises (present: habitual action), the birds have arrived (present perfect) at the feeder.
• Long before the sun rises (present: suggesting future time), the birds will have arrived (future perfect) at the feeder.

Sample paragraphs

The main tense in this first sample is past. Tense shifts are inappropriate and are indicated in bold .

(adapted from a narrative)

Inappropriate shifts from past to present, such as those that appear in the above paragraph, are sometimes hard to resist. The writer becomes drawn into the narrative and begins to relive the event as an ongoing experience. The inconsistency should be avoided, however. In the sample, will should be would , and rise should be rose .

The main tense in this second sample is present. Tense shifts—all appropriate—are indicated in bold.

(adapted from an article in the magazine Wilderness )

This writer uses the present tense to describe the appearance of a dragonfly on a particular July morning. However, both past and future tenses are called for when she refers to its previous actions and to its predictable activity in the future.

Click here for exercises on verb tense.

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• Writing Tips

Common Issues with Tenses

4-minute read

• 6th June 2022

Using verbs correctly is one of the trickiest parts of writing . Anyone can make mistakes with verb tenses, but it’s especially easy for those who aren’t native English speakers. In this post, we’ll explain the nine main tenses and highlight the most common mistakes writers make when using them. So, read on if you want to make verb tense mistakes a thing of the past!

What Are the Main Tenses in English?

Every action happens in the past, present, or future. Each of these time frames is further divided into the simple , continuous, or perfect form. Here’s an example of each:

●  Simple past – things that happened before now:

I wrote an essay last week.

●  Past continuous – an ongoing action in the past:

He was writing a poem yesterday morning.

●  Past perfect – an action that ended before a point in the past:

By lunchtime, he had written six lines.

●  Simple present – a habitual action:

She writes at her desk by the window.

The simple present is also used to describe actions happening at this moment:

I want a desk like that.

●  Present continuous – an ongoing action happening right now:

I am writing a future bestseller!

●  Present perfect – an action that began in the past and is still happening now, or one that happened at an unspecified time:

He has written stories since he was a child.

I have written 1000 birthday cards.

●  Simple future – things that’ll happen and then stop happening:

I will read the first chapter of the book tomorrow.

●  Future continuous – things that’ll begin in the future and continue for some time:

I will be writing a book report.

●  Future perfect – an action that’ll end at some point in the future:

I will have written it by the end of the week.

With so many tenses to choose from, it’s no wonder people make mistakes. Don’t worry, though, because for most academic writing, you don’t need to use all of them. Essays and assignments are nearly always written in the simple present tense, and if you’re describing your own research methodology (e.g., an experiment or survey), you would use the simple past tense.

What Are the Most Common Verb Tense Errors?

Mistakes with verb tenses usually fall into one of three categories:

• Changing from one tense to another.
• Overusing continuous tenses.
• Confusion with irregular verbs.

Use tenses consistently

Your readers will get confused if you switch tenses unexpectedly:

Find this useful?

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The car drove into the tunnel, and it comes out the other end. ✘

The car drove into the tunnel, and it came out the other end. ✔

The car drives into the tunnel, and it comes out the other end. ✔

This doesn’t mean changing tense mid-sentence is always wrong. But make sure you’re saying what you intend to say!

I practiced using different tenses, and now I understand them better. ✔

Limit your use of continuous tenses

Your writing can easily become quite clunky if you use a lot of continuous verb forms:

It was pouring rain while we were camping, and the children were complaining because their blankets were getting wet.

It poured rain while we were camping, and the children complained because their blankets got wet.

The first sentence contains four present participles (i.e., verb forms that end in ing ), which makes it quite a chore to read and rather repetitive. In the second version, we’ve replaced three of them with the simple past tense. This makes the writing more concise and easier to read.

Watch out for irregular verbs

We form the simple past tense and the past participle of most verbs by simply adding ed to the base verb (e.g., walk – walked; open – opened ). However, there are many verbs that don’t obey such rules, and we call these irregular verbs . Unfortunately, there’s no easy way to learn how to conjugate irregular verbs because they don’t follow an obvious pattern, as these examples show:

I buyed bought a gigantic jar of honey.

It costed cost $10.

I hided hid it in the back of the cupboard.

I soon forgetted forgot all about it.

As you read English texts and listen to people speaking in conversation, you’ll recognize more irregular verbs and become familiar with how they work.

Proofreading for Perfect Grammar

We hope you now feel confident about using different tenses in your writing. If you’d like an expert to check your work for incorrect verbs and any other mistakes in grammar, spelling, or punctuation, our proofreaders are here to help. Send us a free trial document to find out more.

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5.5 Verb Tenses

Learning objectives.

• Identify simple verb tenses.
• Recognize to be , to have , and to do verbs.
• Use perfect verb tenses.
• Apply progressive verb tenses.
• Define gerunds and infinitives.

You must always use a verb in every sentence you write. Verbs are parts of speech that indicate actions or states of being. The most basic sentence structure is a subject followed by a verb.

Simple Verb Tenses

Verb tenses tell the reader when the action takes place. The action could be in the past, present, or future.

Simple present verbs are used in the following situations:

When the action takes place now

I drink the water greedily.

When the action is something that happens regularly

I always cross my fingers for good luck.

When describing things that are generally true

College tuition is very costly.

Table 5.4 Regular Simple Present Tense Verbs

When it is he , she , or it doing the present tense action, remember to add – s , or – es to the end of the verb or to change the y to – ies .

Simple past verbs are used when the action has already taken place and is now finished:

• I washed my uniform last night.
• I asked for more pie.
• I coughed loudly last night.

Table 5.5 Regular Simple Past Tense Verbs

When he , she , or it is doing the action in the past tense, remember to add – d or – ed to the end of regular verbs.

Simple future verbs are used when the action has not yet taken place:

• I will work late tomorrow.
• I will kiss my boyfriend when I see him.
• I will erase the board after class.

Table 5.6 Regular Simple Future Tense Verbs

Going to can also be added to the main verb to make it future tense:

• I am going to go to work tomorrow.

On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by adding the verb in the correct simple tense.

• Please do not (erase, erased, will erase) what I have written on the board.
• They (dance, danced, will dance) for hours after the party was over.
• Harrison (wash, washed, will wash) his laundry after several weeks had passed.
• Yesterday Mom (ask, asked, will ask) me about my plans for college.
• I (bake, baked, will bake) several dozen cookies for tomorrow’s bake sale.

Correct the verb tense mistakes in the following paragraph.

Collaboration

Once you have found all the errors you can, please share with a classmate and compare your answers. Did your partner find an error you missed? Did you find an error your partner missed? Compare with your instructor’s answers.

To Be , To Do , and To Have

There are some irregular verbs in English that are formed in special ways. The most common of these are the verbs to be , to have , and to do .

Table 5.7 Verb Forms of To Be , To Do , and To Have

Memorize the present tense forms of to be , to do , and to have . A song or rhythmic pattern will make them easier to memorize.

Review these examples of to be , to do , and to have used in sentences.

Remember the following uses of to be, to have and to do :

• I → am/was/will be
• you/we/they → are/were/will be
• he/she/it → is/was/will be
• I/you/we/they → have/had/will have
• he/she/it → has/had/will have
• I/you/we/they → do/did/will do
• he/she/it → does/did/will do

Remember, if you have a compound subject like Marie and Jennifer , think of the subject as they to determine the correct verb form.

• Marie and Jennifer ( they ) have a house on Bainbridge Island.

Similarly, single names can be thought of as he , she , or it .

• LeBron ( he ) has scored thirty points so far.

On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by circling the correct form of the verbs to be , to have , and to do in the three simple tenses.

• Stefan always (do, does, will do) his taxes the day before they are due.
• We (are, is, was) planning a surprise birthday party for my mother.
• Turtles (have, had, has) the most beautiful patterns on their shells.
• I always (do, did, will do) my homework before dinner, so I can eat in peace.
• You (is, are, was) so much smarter than you think!

Perfect Verb Tenses

Up to this point, we have studied the three simple verb tenses—simple present, simple past, and simple future. Now we will add three more tenses, which are called perfect tenses. They are present perfect , past perfect , and future perfect . These are the three basic tenses of English. A past participle is often called the – ed form of a verb because it is formed by adding – d or – ed to the base form of regular verbs. Past participles can also end in -t or -en . Keep in mind, however, the past participle is also formed in various other ways for irregular verbs. The past participle can be used to form the present perfect tense.

Review the following basic formula for the present perfect tense:

The present perfect tense has a connection with the past and the present.

Use the present perfect tense to describe a continuing situation and to describe an action that has just happened.

I have worked as a caretaker since June.

This sentence tells us that the subject has worked as a caretaker in the past and is still working as a caretaker in the present.

Dmitri has just received an award from the Dean of Students.

This sentence tells us that Dmitri has very recently received the award. The word just emphasizes that the action happened very recently.

Study the following basic formula for the past perfect tense:

The bus had left by the time Theo arrived at the station.

Notice that both actions occurred entirely in the past, but one action occurred before the other. At some time in the past, Theo arrived (simple past tense) at the station, but at some time before that, the bus had left (past perfect).

Look at the following basic formula for the future perfect tense:

The future perfect tense describes an action from the past in the future, as if the past event has already occurred. Use the future perfect tense when you anticipate completing an event in the future, but you have not completed it yet.

You will have forgotten me after you move to London.

Notice that both actions occur in the future, but one action will occur before the other. At some time in the future, the subject ( you ) will move (future tense) to London, and at some time after that, the subject will have forgotten (future perfect tense) the speaker, me .

On a separate sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by using the correct perfect verb tense for the verb in parentheses.

• I plan to start a compost bin because I ________ (to want) one for a long time now.
• My brother told me he ________ (to argue) with his friend about politics.
• By the time we reach the mountain top the sun ________ (to set).
• Denise ________ (to walk) several miles in the past three hours.
• His mother ________ (to offer) to pay him to work in her office.

Progressive Verb Tenses

Progressive verb tenses describe a continuing or unfinished action, such as I am going, I was going , or I will be going .

The present progressive tense describes an action or state of being that takes place in the present and that continues to take place.

To make verbs in the present progressive tense, combine these two parts:

You should use the present progressive tense to describe a planned activity, to describe an activity that is recurring right now, and to describe an activity that is in progress, although not actually occurring at the time of speaking:

Preeti is starting school on Tuesday.

This sentence describes a planned activity.

Janetta is getting her teeth cleaned right now.

This sentence describes an activity that is occurring right now.

I am studying ballet at school.

This sentence describes an activity that is in progress but not actually occurring at the time of speaking.

The past progressive tense describes an action or state of being that took place in the past and that continues to take place.

To make verbs in the past progressive tense, combine these two parts:

You should use the past progressive tense to describe a continuous action in the past, to describe a past activity in progress while another activity occurred, or to describe two past activities in progress at the same time:

Ella and I were planning a vacation.

This sentence describes a continuous action in the past.

I was helping a customer when I smelled delicious fried chicken.

This sentence describes a past activity in progress while another activity occurred.

While I was finishing my homework, my wife was talking on the phone.

This sentence describes two past activities in progress at the same time.

The future progressive tense describes an action or state of being that will take place in the future and that will continue to take place. The action will have started at that future moment, but it will not have finished at that moment.

To make verbs in the future progressive tense, combine these parts:

Use the future progressive tense to describe an activity that will be in progress in the future:

• Samantha and I will be dancing in the school play next week.
• Tomorrow Agnes will be reading two of her poems.

On a separate sheet of paper, revise the following sentences, written in simple tenses, using the progressive tenses indicated in parentheses.

• He prepared the food while I watched. (past progressive tense)
• Jonathan will speak at the conference. (future progressive)
• Josie traveled to Egypt last July. (past progressive tense)
• My foot aches, so I know it will rain. (present progressive tense)
• Micah will talk a lot when I see him. (future progressive)
• I yawn a lot because I feel tired. (present progressive tense)

Similar to the present perfect tense, the present perfect progressive tense is used to indicate an action that was begun in the past and continues into the present. However, the present perfect progressive is used when you want to stress that the action is ongoing.

To make verbs in the present perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts:

She has been talking for the last hour.

This sentence indicates that she started talking in the past and is continuing to talk in the present.

I have been feeling tired lately.

This sentence indicates that I started feeling tired in the past, and I continue to feel tired in the present. Instead of indicating time, as in the first sentence, the second sentence uses the adverb lately . You can also use the adverb recently when using the present perfect progressive tense.

Similar to the past perfect tense, the past perfect progressive tense is used to indicate an action that was begun in the past and continued until another time in the past. The past perfect progressive does not continue into the present but stops at a designated moment in the past.

To make verbs in the past perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts:

The employees had been talking until their boss arrived.

This sentence indicates that the employees were talking in the past and they stopped talking when their boss arrived, which also happened in the past.

I had been working all day.

This sentence implies that I was working in the past. The action does not continue into the future, and the sentence implies that the subject stopped working for unstated reasons.

The future perfect progressive tense is rarely used. It is used to indicate an action that will begin in the future and will continue until another time in the future.

To make verbs in the future perfect progressive tense, combine the following parts:

By the end of the meeting, I will have been hearing about mortgages and taxes for eight hours.

This sentence indicates that in the future I will hear about mortgages and taxes for eight hours, but it has not happened yet. It also indicates the action of hearing will continue until the end of the meeting , something that is also in the future.

A gerund is a form of a verb that is used as a noun. All gerunds end in -ing . Since gerunds function as nouns, they occupy places in a sentence that a noun would, such as the subject, direct object, and object of a preposition.

You can use a gerund in the following ways:

As a subject

Traveling is Cynthia’s favorite pastime.

As a direct object

I enjoy jogging .

As an object of a proposition

The librarian scolded me for laughing .

Often verbs are followed by gerunds. Study Table 5.8 “Gerunds and Verbs” for examples.

Table 5.8 Gerunds and Verbs

Infinitives

An infinitive is a form of a verb that comes after the word to and acts as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

to + verb = infinitive

Examples of infinitives include to move, to sleep, to look, to throw, to read, and to sneeze.

Often verbs are followed by infinitives. Study Table 5.9 “Infinitives and Verbs” for examples.

Table 5.9 Infinitives and Verbs

You may wonder which verbs can be followed by gerunds and which verbs can be followed by infinitives. With the following verbs, you can use either a gerund or an infinitive.

Table 5.10 Infinitives and Gerunds Verbs

On your own sheet of paper, complete the following sentences by choosing the correct infinitive or gerund.

• I meant ________ (to kiss, kissing) my kids before they left for school.
• The children hoped (to go, going) to a restaurant for dinner.
• Do you intend ________ (to eat, eating) the entire pie?
• Crystal postponed ________ (to get dressed, getting dressed) for the party.
• When we finish ________ (to play, playing) this game, we will go home.

Key Takeaways

• Verb tenses tell the reader when the action takes place.
• Actions could be in the past, present, or future.
• There are some irregular verbs in English that are formed in special ways. The most common of these irregular verbs are the verbs to be , to have , and to do .
• There are six main verb tenses in English: simple present , simple past , simple future , present perfect , past perfect , and future perfect .
• Verbs can be followed by either gerunds or infinitives.

Writing Application

Write about a lively event that is either remembered or imagined. Ask yourself the following three questions: What happened during the event? What happened after the event? Looking back, what do you think of the event now? Answer each question in a separate paragraph to keep the present, past, and future tense verbs separate.

Writing for Success Copyright © 2015 by University of Minnesota is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

Verb Tenses – Uses, Examples

| Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond

Candace Osmond studied Advanced Writing & Editing Essentials at MHC. She’s been an International and USA TODAY Bestselling Author for over a decade. And she’s worked as an Editor for several mid-sized publications. Candace has a keen eye for content editing and a high degree of expertise in Fiction.

A verb tense is a grammatical construct that modifies the verb to represent time. Learning the different tenses of verbs will help you express the reality of time in your speech and writing alongside using time expressions.

Keep reading to learn the uses and examples of verb tenses in English as I break it all down. Then, test your understanding by answering the worksheet I created.

What is a Verb Tense?

Before understanding what a verb tense is, it helps to recall the definition of verbs. Remember that a verb is a part of speech that shows actions, conditions, and the existence of something while showing time.

A verb tense is made of a time frame and an aspect. The time frame is divided into the past, present, and future.

The past tenses describe actions in the past , while the present tenses describe activities taking place . Meanwhile, future tenses describe an action that will occur in the future . It’s super important to understand the difference in this, especially if you’re writing.

The aspects of verb tenses refer to the verb’s state of action, and they are divided into four: simple, progressive, perfect, and present progressive tenses .

The simple tenses are for actions occurring at a specific time in the past, future, or present. Progressive tenses indicate ongoing or unfinished action, while perfect tenses describe a finished action. Lastly, the perfect progressive tenses show actions in progress then finished.

How Do You Identify Verb Tenses?

You can understand the types of verb tenses by mastering their different forms. For instance, you should know that the simple past tense usually has a verb that ends in -d or -ed if they are regular verbs .

For progressive tenses, there is an auxiliary verb followed by the present participle verb. The present participle form is also the -ing form of the verb. All of these forms locate an event in time.

It also helps to understand verb tense rules, such as the proper sequence of verb tenses. For example, the verb of the subordinate clause can be in any tense if the independent clause shows future or present tense.

Remember to only show shifts in verb tenses when necessary, such as when you indicate a change in the time of the action.

I find that style guides also vary when it comes to verb tense rules. There may be examples of writing rules in APA that Chicago does not recommend.

What are the 12 Verb Tenses?

Now, let’s discuss the twelve English tenses, their functions, and some sentence examples. I’ve divided them into key sections to make things easier.

Simple Present

The simple tense is the first big category of verb tenses. The simple present tense shows actions or being that are either happening at the moment or regularly.

We form the simple present tense by adding -s or -es if the subject is singular. But if the subject is plural or I , keep it in its base form. For example:

• I create my writing schedule every week.
• She creates her writing schedule every week.
• They create their writing schedule every week.

Present Continuous

The present continuous or progressive tense is one of the categories of verb tenses that shows an ongoing action at present. Professional writers also use this verb tense to express habitual action.

We form the present continuous tense using an auxiliary verb in the present tense is/are/am + – ing verb form. For example:

• The previous researchers from Purdue University who wrote thermodynamics are now writing a paper about aerodynamics.
• The lady in red is looking for her shoes.

To understand this verb tense better, we must know the difference between continuous, non-continuous, and mixed verbs. Remember that non-continuous verbs or stative verbs like remember, hate, guess, and seem do not use the present continuous tense. For example:

• Incorrect: I am hating this movie.

Correct: I hate this movie.

Present Perfect

The perfect verb tenses show actions with complex time relationships. They are either complete, perfected, or finished.

The standard present perfect tense is one of the perfect tenses that shows past actions that continue or are related to the present. They may also show actions recently finished or completed in the past at an indefinite time.

We form it using the popular auxiliary verb, has or have, and the past participle verb form. For example:

• They have come a long way.
• She has come a long way.

Present Perfect Continuous

The present perfect continuous tense shows actions that started in the past and are continuing in the present. This verb tense follows the formula has/have been + present participle of the verb. For example:

• Arnold has been playing the piano recently.
• We haven’t been feeling well lately.

Simple Past

This tense is one of the English verb tenses that show past actions , whether it’s a specific or nonspecific time. They are sometimes formed by adding -d or -ed to the base verb. For example:

• She started the book yesterday.

Some verbs in the simple past form are irregular. An Irregular verb is one of the types of verbs that do not follow the typical simple past and past participle form of verbs. For example:

• We bought new curtains yesterday.

Past Perfect

The perfect aspect of verbs shows perfected or completed action at a specific time.

The past perfect tense is one of the major verb tenses that discuss actions completed before a specific event in the past. Past perfect tense forms require a verbal phrase that includes had and the past participle of the verb. For example:

• Many universities had strengthened their liberal arts programs when the economy declined.

Past Continuous

The past continuous tense shows a continuing action happening at a specific point in the past. We form it by using was/were + -ing form of the verb. For example:

• We were clapping until he tripped on the stage.
• My mom was baking cookies when my friend knocked.

Past Perfect Continuous

The past perfect continuous expresses an action initiated in the past and continued until later in the past. We form it using had been and the present participle form of the verb. For example:

• He had been cooking steak when his wife walked in the kitchen.

Simple Future

The future tense verbs express actions in future events or the future state of being of something.

We form the simple future tense through the verb phrase will plus the root verb. Will is a helping verb that assists the main verb to show the future time, whether it’s a determinate or indeterminate time. It’s one of the modal verbs aside from shall, would, can, etc.

Some examples include will write, will look, will wash, and will buy. Below are some sentence examples that show future action.

• The researcher will submit his paper to the University of Michigan Press tomorrow afternoon.
• She will walk to work tomorrow.

Future Continuous

The future continuous or progressive tense describes an event that is ongoing in the future. Such action is expected to continue over a period of time. Therefore, it’s a future continuous action.

We form a future continuous verb by using will be plus the – ing form of the verb. For example:

• I will be going to the library while you do your homework.
• She will be having piano lessons tomorrow.

Future Perfect

The future perfect tense is for actions that will be finished before another event in the future. This is formed by using the words will + have + past participle of the verb. For example:

• Before school begins in the Fall, they will have gained enough motivation to decide which university they want to attend.
• Mar will have left before you arrive.

Future Perfect Continuous

The future perfect continuous describes an action that will continue in the future. The correct formula is will have been + present participle form of the verb. For example:

• I will have been writing a new book for ten months in Fall.

What are Present Perfect Infinitives?

Infinitives are usually expressed in simple tenses, but they also have perfect tense forms. They occur when the infinitive has the word have before it. Some verbs, such as plan and expect, lead to issues when these future verbs are used with infinitives.

In the sentences below, the actions are expressed in the past. Therefore, they use the simple past verb forms.

• I intended to listen to the new song.
• Ian meant to visit his adviser.

Verb Tenses vs. Time Reference

Verb tenses refer to the grammatical structure of the verb. Meanwhile, the time reference is when the action takes place. Some verb tenses can show a single time reference. Sometimes, different time references use one verb tense.

Can the Verb Tenses Be Expressed in Different Forms?

You can show verb tenses in active and passive verb forms . Negative, affirmative, and interrogative forms also exist in different verb tenses.

What’s the Most Used Verb Tense in English?

The most common verb tenses are simple tenses, especially the simple present and simple past. The present perfect tense is also common in the English language. You’ll find these tenses in both creative and academic writing.

It’s also essential to differentiate between the tenses and mood of verbs. Verbs have three moods: imperative, subjunctive, and indicative.

Verb Tenses Summary

The different verb tenses show any action or condition’s location in time. They include the past, future, and present tenses.

Use different verb tenses to clarify several time periods. Make sure to observe consistency and accuracy in these tenses for verb usage.

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Present tense.

Use the present tense to make generalizations about your topic or the views of scholars:

• The two Indus artifacts provide insight into ancient Hindu culture.
• Marxist historians argue that class conflict shapes political affairs.
• At the end of the chorus, the sopranos repeat the main theme.

Use the present tense to cite an author or another source (except in science writing, where past tense is used; see below).

• The Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 reflects the idealism of the Second World War.
• The historian Donna Harsch states that "Social Democrats tried to prevent the triumph of Nazism in order to save the republic and democracy" (3).

(n.b.: whether or not the author is still living is not relevant to selection of tense.)  

Use the past tense to describe actions or states of being that occurred exclusively in the past:

• Hemingway drew on his experiences in World War I in constructing the character of Jake Barnes.
• We completed the interviews in January, 2001.  

Present and Past Tense Together

At times you will use both present and past tense to show shifts between time relationships. Use present tense for those ideas/observations that are considered timeless and past tense for actions occurring in the past:

• The Padshahnama is an ancient manuscript owned by the Royal Library at Windsor Castle. This manuscript details the history of Shah Jahan, the Muslim ruler who commissioned the building of the Taj Mahal (Webb et al. 134).
• Flynn (1999) concluded that high school students are more likely to smoke cigarettes if they have a parent who smokes .
• Simon (2000) observed that neutered cats spend less time stalking their prey.  

Writing About Literature

Use the present tense to describe fictional events that occur in the text:

(This use of present tense is referred to as "the historical present.")

• In Milton's Paradise Lost , Satan tempts Eve in the form of a serpent.
• Voltaire's Candide encounters numerous misfortunes throughout his travels.

Also use the present tense to report your interpretations and the interpretations of other sources:

• Odysseus represents the archetypal epic hero.
• Flanagan suggests that Satan is the protagonist of Paradise Lost .

Use the past tense to explain historical context or elements of the author's life that occurred exclusively in the past:

When writing about literature, use both present and past tense when combining observations about fictional events from the text (present tense) with factual information (past tense):

• James Joyce, who grew up in the Catholic faith, draws on church doctrine to illuminate the roots of Stephen Dedalus' guilt.
• In Les Belles Images , Simone de Beauvoir accurately portrays the complexities of a marriage even though she never married in her lifetime.

Use the present perfect tense to describe an event that occurs in the text previous to the principal event you are describing:

• The governess questions the two children because she believes they have seen the ghosts.
• Convinced that Desdemona has been unfaithful to him, Othello strangles her.

Use the past tense when referring to an event occurring before the story begins:

• In the opening scenes of Hamlet , the men are visited by the ghost of Hamlet's father, whom Claudius murdered .  

Writing for Science

Most of the time, use past tense when writing for science.

Use past tense to discuss completed studies and experiments:

• We extracted tannins from the leaves by bringing them to a boil in 50% methanol.
• We hypothesized that adults would remember more items than children.

Use past tense when referring to information from outside sources:

• Paine (1966) argued that predators and parasites are more abundant in the tropics than elsewhere.
• Kerr (1993) related the frequency of web-decorating behavior with the presence of birds on different Pacific islands.

(N.B.: a common mistake in science writing is the use of present tense when referring to what other authors have written.)  

As in writing for other disciplines, use present tense in science writing when describing an idea or fact that is still true in the present:

• Genetic information is encoded in the sequence of nucleotides on DNA.
• Previous research showed that children confuse the source of their memories more often than adults (Lindsey et al. 1991).

Also use present tense in science writing when the idea is the subject of the sentence and the citation remains fully in parentheses:

• Sexual dimorphism in body size is common among butterflies (Singer 1982).

Contrast the above sentence to the following, also correct, construction:

• Singer (1982) stated that sexual dimorphism in body size is common among butterflies.

The logic and practice of the discipline for which you write determine verb tense. If you have questions about tense or other writing concerns, check with your professor.  

Works Cited

Webb, Suzanne, Robert Miller, and Winifred Horner. Hodges' Harbrace Handbook , fourteenth edition. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2001. Zach Brown '03, and Sharon Williams would like to thank the following readers for their assistance in the preparation of this handout: Meghan Barbour '00, John Farranto '01, and Professors Eismeier, Grant, Hopkins, Jensen, J. O'Neill, Strout, Thickstun, and E. Williams.

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Simple Verb Tenses: Definition, Examples, & Exercises

• The Albert Team
• Last Updated On: September 28, 2023

Nouns and verbs can both express number, but only verbs can express tense, or when the action of the sentence is performed or a state of being is experienced. 

Keeping tense clear and consistent throughout one’s writing is essential, but it is often overlooked by writers wanting to rush through their work. Getting in the habit of establishing your verb tense early on and sticking with it helps in two ways: first, your writing will flow more smoothly; second, you will avoid a large chunk of editing later on. 

While there are several different types of verb tenses, the foundational tenses are past , present , and future . These are called simple verb tenses. 

There are also perfect verb tenses , progressive verb tenses , and there are even some irregular verbs that do not follow the rules when changing tense. While this blog post focuses on simple verb tenses , these other verb tenses can be explored in other blog posts on Albert.

When you’re ready, test yourself with a quiz  and practice with our high-quality, standards-aligned questions here .

What We Review

The Basics of Simple Verb Tenses

What is Simple Verb Tense?

Simple verb tense can be divided into three categories: past, present, and future . 

• Present Tense : He writes a letter today. 
• Past Tense : I wrote a letter yesterday. 
• Future Tense : I will write a letter tomorrow.

While some verb tenses , such as present tense and past tense , can be expressed by simply changing the form of the verb itself, other verbs need the help of an auxiliary verb to show tense, especially future tense . 

In the examples above, the present tense verb, writes , looked only slightly different in past tense , wrote . However, this same verb needs the auxiliary verb, “ will ” joined with the present tense form of the verb, write to create future tense .

How is Simple Past Tense Used in Academic Writing?

Student writers use simple past tense verbs to describe something that happened prior to the current action in a narrative, an author’s ideas in a literary essay, or historical events in a research paper.

For example: 

• Narrative: The charred wallpaper peeling mournfully from the walls indicated that a fire had broken out sometime overnight. 

In this example, the narrator makes an assumption about an event that occurred earlier in the story.

• Literary Essay: Inspired by her own childhood, Harper Lee crafted Jean Louise “Scout” Finch in close resemblance to herself. 

In this example, the student writer analyzes Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird , focusing on how this novel originated during the 1960’s. 

• Research Paper: When Disney World first opened in 1971, tickets were only $3.50. 

In this example, the student writer uses simple past tense to share historical information.

How is Simple Present Tense Used in Academic Writing?

Student writers use present tense in narratives to describe what is happening in the current moment, in scientific papers to state facts, or in literary analyses to incorporate the writer’s own ideas. 

• Narratives: He steps through the open portal, and he finds himself in another dimension. 
• Scientific Writing: Many creatures in the natural world, such as frogs, still experience the stages of evolution. 
• Literary Analysis: I am proud of Harper Lee for using her skilled voice as a writer to speak out against racial injustice.

How is Simple Future Tense Used in Academic Writing?

Simple future verb tense is used less often in academic writing than simple present or simple past tense, but that does not mean it is any less important. 

In narrative writing, students can take the role of an omniscient or all-knowing narrator that can share the future for his or her characters. 

• Narrative : He has no idea that his decision will lead to his tragic downfall.

How is Simple Verb Tense Different from Perfect Verb Tense?

While simple verb tense can express an action that did happen, is happening, or will happen, the perfect verb tense indicates an action that has already been completed or “perfected”. The perfect verb tense always appears with the auxiliary verb have or had . You can learn more about perfect verb tenses in this blog post .

For example:

• Simple present: I eat my lunch. 
• Present perfect: I have eaten my lunch.
• Simple past: I walked to school yesterday. 
• Past perfect: I had walked to school yesterday. 
• Simple future: I will finish my homework tomorrow. 
• Future perfect: I will have finished my homework by tomorrow.

How is Simple Verb Tense Different from Progressive Verb Tense?

While simple verb tense expresses an action that did happen, is happening, or will happen and perfect verb tense expresses an action that has already been completed, progressive verb tense expresses an ongoing action. Progressive verb tense always uses a form of the “ to-be ” verb and an -ing verb. 

• Simple present: I ate my lunch. 
• Present progressive: I am eating my lunch. 
• Past progressive: I was walking to school yesterday. 
• Future progressive: I will be finishing my homework by tomorrow.

Return to the Table of Contents

3 Tips for Understanding Simple Verb Tenses

Here are some important tips to help you understand simple verb tense :

Tip #1. Facts and current actions are always written in simple present tense

• Many plants need sunlight and water to survive.

Tip #2. Historical events, events in the past, and author’s decisions are all written in simple past tense

• Inspired by ancient Greek games, the international Olympics started in 1896.

Tip #3. Verb tense must stay consistent in your writing to avoid confusion

• Incorrect : The hockey game last night was brutal; no one scores until the third period. 

Because the initial verb in this sentence is in past tense, the second verb also must be in past tense. See the corrected sentence below: 

• Correct : The hockey game last night was brutal; no one scored until the third period.

Applying the Basics: Simple Verb Tenses Review & Practice

Now that you understand how simple verb tense functions in sentences, review the anchor chart below and complete the review to fully understand how to use and recognize simple verb tense as well as how to differentiate it from other verb tenses.  

The Ultimate List of Verb Tenses

Refer to the graphic below to learn the different types of Verb Tenses :

This list, obviously, does not include all possible verbs and their tenses; however, it is meant to be used as a guide while identifying different types of verb tenses.

Simple Verb Tense Exercises and Review

Now that you understand simple verb tense, test your ability to recognize which verb tense in needed in the sentences below: 

Select the correct verb tense in the sentences below. Remember, past verb tense describes events that happened in the past, present verb tense describes events that are happening currently, and future verb tense describes events that are yet to happen.

1. Before Elsa awoke the spirits of the forest, Anna was/is/will be confident that nothing in her life will change for the worse. 

In this sentence, was is the correct verb tense to use. Since the context clues in the sentence reference something that happened earlier in the movie, a simple past tense verb is needed.

2. Throughout the movie, it is/was/will be clear that Elsa regretted ever trusting Prince Hans of the Southern Isles. 

In this sentence, was is the correct verb to use. We know this because another simple past tense verb is used later in the sentence: regretted . In order to be consistent in our use of verb tense, both verbs must be in past tense.

3. Once she finds out what really happened between Arendelle and the Northuldra tribe, Elsa is/was/will be determined to make things right. 

In this sentence, “ is” is the correct verb to use because it is in simple present tense , just like the other verb in the sentence, finds.

4. Olaf no longer needs his own snow flurry to stay frozen because last month, Elsa gives/gave/will give him permafrost. 

In this sentence, gave, or the past tense form of the verb , is needed because the context clue, last month , implies that Elsa giving Olaf his permafrost happened in the past.

5. Grand Pabbie warns Elsa that bad things are happening/have happened/will happen if Elsa does not conquer the spirits of the forest. 

In this sentence, will happen , or the future tense verb , is needed because the sentence sets up a contingent relationship. Because Grand Pabbie knows all, he can predict what will happen if Elsa is unsuccessful on her quest.

Pro tip : Simple verb tense can be narrowed down into three simple categories that show when an action occurred or when a state of being was experienced in a sentence. These three categories, past, present, and future , perform best when verbs of the same tense are used consistently within one piece of writing.

For additional practice, check out Simple Verb Tense content on Albert.

Try for Yourself: Simple Verb Tenses Quiz 

Feeling confident in your understanding of Simple Verb Tense ? 

Take this short six-question quiz to see what you’ve learned:

1. Which verb tense shows that the action in the sentence is ongoing: simple, perfect, or progressive? 

• Answer: Progressive 
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! Progressive verb tense shows action that is ongoing while simple verb tense can show action that already happened, is happening, or will happen. 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, progressive verb tense shows action that is ongoing while simple verb tense can show action that already happened, is happening, or will happen.

2. True or False: simple future verb tense can be expressed without the help of auxiliary verbs. 

• Answer: False 
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! Simple future verb tense , unlike simple present or simple past tense, must have an auxiliary verb attached to it in order to express future tense. 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, simple future verb tense , unlike simple present or simple past tense, must have an auxiliary verb attached to it in order to express future tense.

3. In this sentence, is the present tense verb, “have finished” simple, perfect, or progressive tense? 

I have finished sewing a quilt for my baby nephew. 

• Answer: Perfect Verb Tense
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! The verb have finished expresses an action that has already been completed, so it must be a perfect verb tense . 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, perfect verb tenses express actions that have already been completed, so have finished is perfect , not simple or progressive.

4. In this sentence, is the past tense verb, hiked , simple, perfect, or progressive tense? 

We hiked a large section of the Smoky Mountain National Park yesterday. 

• Answer: Simple Verb Tense
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! The past tense verb, hiked , expresses an action that was done on the previous day, or in the past. Since the action is not explicitly ongoing or completed (they may hike more today), the tense is simple past . 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, simple past tense expresses an action that happened in the past, not one that is ongoing or one that has been completed.

5. In this sentence, is the future tense verb, will be attending, simple, perfect, or progressive tense? 

They will be attending the awards ceremony this evening. 

• Answer: Progressive verb tense
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! In this sentence, the phrase will be attending implies an ongoing activity that will occur in the future; therefore, a future progressive verb is required. 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, future progressive verb tense implies an ongoing activity that will occur in the future, such as, will be attending.

6. In this sentence, is a simple past or simple present tense verb needed? 

While we were trick-or-treating last night, I bump/bumped into someone that looked like Frankenstein’s monster.

• Answer: bumped: simple past tense
• Correct Explanation: That’s right! Since the tense of the first verb in the sentence is past ( were ), the tense of the second verb also needs to be past , which is bumped . 
• Incorrect Explanation: Sorry, that’s not right! Remember, in order to be consistent in your writing, if another verb in the sentence is past tense, then any subsequent verbs must also be in past tense.

For additional practice with Simple Verb Tense , check out our practice on Albert: Simple Verb Tense .

Teacher’s Corner for Simple Verb Tenses

How many times have you read a student’s paper only to find that the verb tense changes nearly every sentence? Oftentimes students do not realize the importance of consistency when it comes to verb tense. Even though students may understand the fundamentals of subject and verb usage in a sentence, the Common Core English Language Progressive Skills Chart shows that there are always ways to build on students’ knowledge and create even stronger writers. 

Albert provides several different verb tense practice activities, including Simple Verb Tense Practice . Albert has also created full-fledged assessments and quizzes on a range of grammatical topics.

Summary for Simple Verb Tenses

There are many verb tenses out there to choose from, but the most important thing is choosing the right tense for the type of writing you are doing and then sticking with it! 

Be sure to check out our grammar course for more Simple Verb Tense practice. 

You can also access over 3,400 high-quality questions that address nearly every grammatical concept.

Need help preparing for your Grammar exam?

Albert has hundreds of grammar practice questions with detailed explanations to help you master concepts.

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Grammar and Mechanics: Verb Tenses

Most common verb tenses in academic writing.

According to corpus research, in academic writing, the three tenses used the most often are the simple present , the simple past , and the present perfect (Biber et al., 1999; Caplan, 2012). The next most common tense for capstone writers is the future ; the doctoral study/dissertation proposal at Walden is written in this tense for a study that will be conducted in the future. The blog post on What Verb Tenses Do You Need to Master for Academic Writing addresses these ideas as well.

Biber, D., Johansson, S., Leech, G., Conrad, S., & Finegan, E. (1999). Longman grammar of written and spoken English . Pearson. https://doi.org/10.1162/089120101300346831

Caplan, N. A. (2012). Grammar choices for graduate and professional writers . University of Michigan Press.

Simple present: Use the simple present to describe a general truth or a habitual action. This tense indicates that the statement is generally true in the past, present, and future.

• Example: Research methods include qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods.

Simple past : Use the simple past tense to describe a completed action that took place at a specific point in the past (e.g., last year, 1 hour ago, last Sunday). In this example, the specific point of time in the past is 1998.

• Example: Zimbardo (1998) researched many aspects of social psychology.

Present perfect: Use the present perfect to indicate an action that occurred at a nonspecific time in the past. This action has relevance in the present. The present perfect is also sometimes used to introduce background information in a paragraph. After the first sentence, the tense shifts to the simple past.

• Example: Numerous researchers have used this method.
• Example: Many researchers have studied how small business owners can be successful beyond the initial few years in business. They found common themes among small business owners.

Future: Use the future to describe an action that will take place at a particular point in the future (at Walden, this is used especially when writing a proposal for a doctoral capstone study).

• Example: I will conduct semistructured interviews.

Keep in mind that verb tenses should be adjusted after the proposal after the research has been completed. See Verb Tense Considerations: Proposal to Final Study farther down on this page and this blog post about Revising the Proposal for the Final Capstone Document for more information.

APA Style Guidelines on Verb Tense

APA calls for consistency and accuracy in verb tense usage. In other words, avoid unnecessary shifts in verb tense within a paragraph or in adjacent paragraphs to help ensure smooth expression.

• Use the past tense (e.g., researchers presented ) or the present perfect (e.g., researchers have presented ) for the literature review and the description of the procedure if discussing past events.
• Use the past tense to describe the results (e.g., test scores improved significantly ).
• Use the present tense to discuss implications of the results and present conclusions (e.g., the results of the study show …).

Refer to the work of another researcher in the past.

• Patterson (2017) presented, found, stated, discovered…

However, there can be a shift to the present tense if the research findings still hold true:

• King (2016) found that revising a document three times improves the final grade.
• Smith (2018) discovered that the treatment is effective.

Verb Tense Guidelines When Referring to the Document Itself

To preview what is coming in the document or to explain what is happening at that moment in the document, use the present or future tense:

• In this study, I will describe …
• In this study, I describe …
• In the next chapter, I will discuss …
• In the next chapter, I discuss …

To refer back to information already covered, such as summaries of discussions that have already taken place or conclusions to chapters/sections, use the past tense:

• Chapter 1 included my original discussion of the research questions.
• In summary, in this section, I presented information on…

Simple Past Versus the Present Perfect

Rules for the use of the present perfect differ slightly in British and American English. Researchers have also found that among American English writers, sometimes individual preferences dictate whether the simple past or the present perfect is used. In other words, one American English writer may choose the simple past in a place where another American English writer may choose the present perfect.

Keep in mind, however, that the simple past is used for a completed action. It often is used with signal words such as yesterday, last week, 1 year ago, or in 2015 to indicate the specific time in the past when the action took place.

• I collected data in 2017 .
• All prospective participants signed an informed consent form in a 1-week period before data collection began.

The present perfect focuses more on an action that occurred without focusing on the specific time it happened. Note that the specific time is not given, just that the action has occurred.

• I have examined several possible research designs.

The present perfect focuses more on the result of the action.

• The panel of experts has completed the instrument validation.

The present perfect is often used with signal words such as since, already, just, until now, (not) yet, so far, ever, lately , or recently .

• I have already examined several possible research designs.
• The panel of experts has recently completed the instrument validation.
• Researchers have used this method since it was developed.

Also see the blog post on Choosing the Present Perfect Tense in Academic Writing for more information and examples.

Verb Tense Considerations: Proposal to Final Study

Unlike the proposal , where the writer describes a study not yet conducted, the final study is a report of what actually happened in the research or project study process, so the writer must revise the relevant portions of the proposal accordingly when incorporating them into the final capstone document. One essential step is to determine which verbs require a change in tense for logical and accurate reporting of the completed study. Although many sentences will shift from future to past tense, this shift is not appropriate in all cases. These guidelines address specific considerations for deciding where a shift in tense is necessary during this revision process.   

Future tense verbs that need to shift to past tense in the final study include those representing actions, decisions, or processes that happened after approval of the proposal, such as in the following examples:

Proposal: In this study, I will employ face-to-face interviews with key participants, reflexive notes, and a review of literature… Final study: In this study, I employed face-to-face interviews with key participants, reflexive notes, and a review of literature…

Proposal: The sample will consist of 10 to 20 graduate students who have completed at least three graduate courses in the past year. Final study: The sample consisted of 12 graduate students who had completed * at least three graduate courses in the past year. * Note the related verb tense shift from present perfect to past perfect in the second example.

Not all verbs require a shift in tense. Here are a few such cases:

• In this chapter, I describe … (or will describe … )
• NOT: In this chapter, I described …
• This study’s findings could lead to positive social change by… 
• The results of this study may serve to increase awareness of…
• Researchers have argued that the continued loss of experienced nurses will have negative effects on...
• As technology advances, future researchers will want to focus on…
• This professional development project will address the problem of…
• This systematic review will provide support for evidence-based best practices for…

Strategy for revising verb tense from proposal to final study:

• Use Ctrl+F (or Command+F on a Mac) or click the Find button under the Home tab to search for occurrences of the word will in the document.
• On a case-by-case basis, examine each statement containing will to determine whether revision is needed. Avoid using Replace All in the Find and Replace menu because, as noted above, not all uses of future tense refer to the proposal itself.
• Check the context in which the word will occurs to see if other revisions are warranted nearby.

Keep in mind that, although this strategy can make finding and revising proposal-specific language a bit easier, there is no substitute for careful, systematic proofreading of the document.

Final note and related resources:

Inadequate revision of verb tense and other proposal-specific language is among the Top 10 Reasons for Delays at the F&S Review , so taking the time for this process well before that stage is important.

Capstone writers should consult the Form and Style Checklist for this and other important aspects of revising the final study or project in preparation for the Form and Style Review .

Summary of English Verb Tenses

The 12 main tenses:

• Simple present : She writes every day.
• Present progressive: She is writing right now.
• Simple past : She wrote last night.
• Past progressive: She was writing when he called.
• Simple future : She will write tomorrow.
• Future progressive: She will be writing when you arrive.
• Present perfect : She has written Chapter 1.
• Present perfect progressive: She has been writing for 2 hours.
• Past perfect: She had written Chapter 3 before she started Chapter 4.
• Past perfect progressive: She had been writing for 2 hours before her friends arrived.
• Future perfect: She will have written Chapter 4 before she writes Chapter 5.
• Future perfect progressive: She will have been writing for 2 hours by the time her friends come over.

Conditionals:

Zero conditional (general truths/general habits).

• Example: If I have time, I write every day.

First conditional (possible or likely things in the future).

• Example: If I have time, I will write every day.

Second conditional (impossible things in the present/unlikely in the future).

• Example : If I had time, I would write every day.

Third conditional (things that did not happen in the past and their imaginary results)

• Example : If I had had time, I would have written every day.

Subjunctive : This form is sometimes used in that -clauses that are the object of certain verbs or follow certain adjectives. The form of the subjective is the simple form of the verb. It is the same for all persons and number.

• Example : I recommend that future researchers include other populations in their studies.
• Example: It is important that staff at the study site establish criteria for implementing study findings.
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Writing tenses: 5 tips for past, present, future

Understanding how to use writing tenses is challenging. How do you mix past, present and future tense without making the reader giddy? What is the difference between ‘simple’ and ‘perfect’ tense? Read this simple guide for answers to these questions and more:

• Post author By Jordan
• 28 Comments on Writing tenses: 5 tips for past, present, future

What are the main writing tenses?

In English, we have so-called ‘simple’ and ‘perfect’ tenses in the past, present and future. The simple tense merely conveys action in the time narrated. For example:

Past (simple) tense: Sarah ran to the store. Present (simple) tense: Sarah runs to the store. Future (simple) tense: Sarah will run to the store

Perfect tense uses the different forms of the auxiliary verb ‘has’ plus the main verb to show actions that have taken place already (or will/may still take place). Here’s the above example sentence in each tense, in perfect form:

Past perfect: Sarah had run to the store. Present perfect: Sarah has run to the store. Future perfect: Sarah will have run to the store.

In the past perfect, Sarah’s run is an earlier event in a narrative past:

Sarah had run to the store many times uneventfully so she wasn’t at all prepared for what she saw that morning.

You could use the future perfect tense to show that Sarah’s plans will not impact on another event even further in the future. For example:

Sarah will have run to the store by the time you get here so we won’t be late.

(You could also say ‘Sarah will be back from the store by the time you get here so we won’t be late.’ This is a simpler option using the future tense with the infinitive ‘to be’.) Here are some tips for using the tenses in a novel:

1. Decide which writing tenses would work best for your story

The majority of novels are written using simple past tense and the third person:

She ran her usual route to the store, but as she rounded the corner she came upon a disturbing sight.

When you start drafting a novel or a scene, think about the merits of each tense. The present tense, for example, has the virtue of:

• Immediacy: The action unfolds in the same narrative moment as the reader experiences it (there is no temporal distance: Each action happens now)
• Simplicity: It’s undeniably easier to write ‘She runs her usual route to the store’ then to juggle all sorts of remote times using auxiliary verbs

Sometimes authors are especially creative in combining tense and POV. In Italo Calvino’s postmodern classic , If on a winter’s night a traveler ( 1979), the entire story is told in the present tense, in the second person. This has the effect of a ‘choose-your-own-adventure’ novel. To rewrite Sarah’s story in the same tense and POV:

You run your usual route to the store, but as you round the corner you come upon a disturbing sight.

This tense choice is smart for Calvino’s novel since it increases the puzzling nature of the story. In If on a winter’s night a traveler , you, the reader, are a character who buys Calvino’s novel If on a winter’s night a traveler , only to discover that there are pages missing. When you attempt to return it, you get sent on a wild goose chase after the book you want.

Tense itself can enliven an element of your story’s narration. In a thriller novel, for example, you can write tense scenes in first person, present tense for a sense of danger unfolding now . Tweet This

A muffled shot. He sits up in bed, tensed and listening. Can’t hear much other than the wind scraping branches along the gutter.

2. Avoid losing clarity when mixing tenses

Because stories show us chains and sequences of events, often we need to jump back and forth between earlier and present scenes and times. This is especially true in novels where characters’ memories form a crucial part of the narrative.

It’s confusing when an author changes tense in the middle of a scene. The fragmented break in continuity makes it hard to place actions in relation to each other. For example:

Sarah runs her usual route to the store. As she turned the corner, she came upon a disturbing scene.

This is wrong because the verbs do not consistently use the same tense , even though it is clear (from context) that Sarah’s run is a continuous action in a single scene.

Ursula K. Le Guin offers excellent advice on mixing past and present in her writing manual, Steering the Craft :

It is highly probable that if you go back and forth between past and present tense, if you switch the tense of your narrative frequently and without some kind of signal (a line break, a dingbat,a new chapter) your reader will get all mixed up as to what happened before what and what’s happening after which and when we are, or were, at the moment. Ursula K. Le Guin, Steering the Craft

In short, make sure there are clear breaks between sections set in different tenses and that actions in the same timeline don’t create confusion by using different tenses for the same scene’s continuous events.

These 10 exercises for practicing tenses provide a fun way to focus on mastering the basics.

Get a professional edit for perfect tense

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3: Mix the tenses for colour and variety

Le Guin raises a good point about writing tenses. Le Guin describes the downside of telling a story almost exclusively in present tense:

It all rather sounds alike…it’s bland, predictable, risk-free. All too often, it’s McProse. The wealth and complexity of our verb forms is part of the color of the language. Using only one tense is like having a whole set of oil paints and using only pink. Le Guin, Steering the Craft

Instead mix different tenses where appropriate, but signal changes between time settings:

For example:

That morning, she had run her usual route to the store. As she turned the corner, she had come upon a disturbing scene. Apart from the glass and metal sprayed across the road like some outgoing tide’s deposit, there were what looked like two stretchers, mostly eclipsed from view by a swarm of emergency workers. Now, safely home, she decided to lie down, all the while trying to get that scene out of her mind.

Mixing the tenses can help to show the cause and effect of interlocking events. The use of the past perfect to describe the scene of an accident in the example above is effective because the past perfect shows what is already complete. It gives it an irrevocable quality, the quality of a haunting, living-on-in-memory event. Finished, but not finished in the character’s mind’s eye.

4. Practice showing shadowy past or present actions using verb forms

In addition to simple and perfect tenses, there are different ‘moods’ that show verbs as hypothetical or possible actions. In addition to the indicative mood (‘she runs to the store’) there is also the subjunctive mood (‘If she runs to the store’) and the potential mood (‘she may run to the store’).

The different moods are useful because they can show possibilities and scenarios that might have happened, or might still happen, under different circumstances. Here are examples for correct uses for each of the tenses (in active voice):

Subjunctive mood:

Present tense: If she runs to the store… Past tense: If she ran to the store… Future tense: If she should run to the store… Present perfect tense: If she has run to the store… Past perfect tense: If she had run to the store… Future perfect tense: If she should have run to the store….

Think of this mood as setting up a possibility. For example: ‘If she runs to the store, she better be quick because we’re leaving in 5.’

The potential mood helps us show shadowy, more hypothetical, uncertain scenarios:

Present tense: She may run to the store. Present perfect tense: She may have run to the store. Past perfect: She might have run to the store.

In each of these examples, the action is a possibility and the mood (using the various forms of ‘may’) shows this.

These verb moods in conjunction with tense are useful. They help us describe situations in which a narrator or character does not have full knowledge of events, or is wondering how events might pan out. They help to build suspense in the build-up to finishing a book .

5. Practice rewriting paragraphs in different tenses

It’s often easiest to get the hang of tense by doing. Pick a paragraph by an author and rewrite in each of the tenses. Here, for example, is a paragraph from David Sedaris’ essay, ‘Buddy, Can you Spare a Tie?’:

The only expensive thing I actually wear is a navy blue cashmere sweater. It cost four hundred dollars and looks like it was wrestled from the mouth of a tiger. “What a shame,” the dry cleaner said the first time I brought it in. The sweater had been folded into a loaf-sized bundle, and she stroked it, the way you might a freshly dead rabbit. David Sedaris, ‘Buddy, Can you Spare a Tie?’ , When You Are Engulfed in Flames

Rewritten in past simple tense:

The only expensive thing I actually wore was a navy blue cashmere sweater. It cost four hundred dollars and looked like it was wrestled from the mouth of a tiger. “What a shame,” the dry cleaner said the first time I brought it in. The sweater was folded into a loaf-sized bundle, and she stroked it, the way you might a freshly dead rabbit.’

Here is the same passage in past perfect:

The only expensive thing I had actually worn was a navy blue cashmere sweater. It had cost four hundred dollars and had looked like it had been wrestled from the mouth of a tiger. “What a shame,” the dry cleaner had said, the first time I brought it in. The sweater had been folded into a loaf-sized bundle, and she had stroked it, the way you might a freshly dead rabbit.

The effect is of a character describing the defining experiences before another event (before buying an even more expensive item of clothing, for example). For example, you could write ‘Before I bought that lavish suit…’ before the paragraph.

To perfect writing tenses, make your own exercises and practice rewriting extracts from your story in each tense to see the changing effect this has on your narrative.

Do you need feedback on your use of tense in a story? Get novel help from our writing community or your own, experienced writing coach.

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• 10 steps to writing a book: 100 writing tips (Part I)
• Tags how to write tense , tense and narration , writing tenses

Jordan is a writer, editor, community manager and product developer. He received his BA Honours in English Literature and his undergraduate in English Literature and Music from the University of Cape Town.

28 replies on “Writing tenses: 5 tips for past, present, future”

A fine explanation of tenses. A subject often ignored, having been overlooked except by students of language. In short, changes in tense are great aids to tension.

Thanks, Bob! It’s true that it’s not discussed as commonly as certain other topics such as characterization.

Reading such articles clear all the confusion. Thanks!

I have question though, I am writing in past tense, all the events are happening in past tense. But, say, my protagonist is in a situation where she has to decide something and she is anticipating something, in short, it’s future for her, how do we go about that.

She was still sitting on the same bench, as she didn’t want to leave the light. She was sure that ………………………………………………………………….

What I want to write here is, she knew that she will not find any cab at this hour. a. She was sure that she will not find any cab at this hour. b. She was sure that she was not going to any cab at this hour. c. She was sure that she couldn’t get a cab at this hour.

In my current scene, I am trying to show the thought process of the protagonist and I have encountered 2 or 3 places where I have come across this situation. Am I doing something wrong? Should I not come across such situation at all if I am writing in past tense?

I understand reading helps, but at this moment, my mind is blank and I am not able to recollect anything that I (must) have read.

Please suggest.

Hi Jayendra,

Thanks for your question and the feedback. Number a. would be incorrect because ‘will’ is in the simple future tense (it would be correct in ‘She is sure she will not find any cab at this hour’). B would be correct with a few small tweaks: ‘She was sure she wasn’t going to find any cab at such a late hour’ (or ‘…any cab so late at night.’) Incidentally, ‘this’ implies present, continuous time so it is a little jarring in past tense (hence the alternatives above). c. Similarly, this option would be better as ‘She was sure she wouldn’t find a cab at such a late hour.’ ‘Would not’ is the right past tense form here, in present tense it would be ‘will not’. It implies future action in relation to the present time of the narration.

I hope that helps!

Hey Bridget, thanks for your reply. It feels silly now. If I was able to come up with “could”, why couldn’t I think of “would”! 🙂

Thank you for this article. Tense has been driving me insane as it feels like there are hundreds of exceptions when it comes to usage of “simple present verbs” in past tense narratives. It makes me want to disregard the entire subject and rely on an editor to catch any mistakes that I don’t naturally leave out.

For example. When you said, “Past perfect: Sarah had run to the store.” “Run” is a present (simple) tense verb, which would make you think that it can’t be used at all in a past tense narrative, but it clearly can if you phrase it correctly. This holds true with literally dozens of other verbs, adverbs, and other “tense” related words. I’m finding my work being hampered by this as I literally stumble over myself thinking I buggered up a word in my narrative, only to later find out it was a perfectly acceptable usage. I’m really at the breaking point over this, and I’m close to just disregarding it all together and relying on pure instinct and proofreading, then review by an editor at a later date. Then of course, there’s the whole deal with acceptable tense shifting…

Am I incorrect for thinking this way? Will this kind of mindset bar me from any chance of ever getting published or even being given an offer by an agent? Is there room in this world for easily confusable writers? I don’t know, and I can’t imagine how confusing this must be for foreign speakers, either. As I’ve been speaking english all my life and writing as a hobby for nearly a decade.

Anyway, sorry for the rant. I actually do have an actual question. How do you use simple present tense usages of “being” when writing in second person past tense? Because the phrase, “You are…(whatever character’s name) comes up quite a bit. However, there’s no way to get around the fact that you have to use “are,” in the past tense continuous, and I can’t find any info on if that is correct or not.

I have a question. Would it be incorrect if my story is in first person point of view and narrated in the past tense, but the internal monologue of my narrator is in the present tense?

Ex. “Don’t you ever go anywhere else, Red?” My name isn’t Red. I can’t remember where that nickname came from. “I go to school.” I said. I could feel him rolling his eyes at me. I think he’s done that before. “Come with me today.” I looked at him then, a little puzzled. It was a bad idea and yet I said: “Okay.”

It sounds right in my head but I feel like the tenses are too all over the place to be correct. The narrator has memory problems so I want what he’s thinking to be read but I’m just not sure if this is correct. I’m more comfortable with past tense writing but should I switch to present tense?

I have the same question!

Hi Hannah, this comment slipped by, my sincere apologies for that.

Regarding your question, the tense switching does jolt the reader out of the story. If you’re more comfortable with past tense, I’d suggest putting the internal monologue in past, too. For example:

“I go to school,” I said. I could feel him rolling his eyes at me. He’d done that before.’ Similarly, for ‘I can’t remember where that nickname came form’, you could simplify it to make past tense less clunky as: ‘Where did that nickname come from?’

I hope your story is much further along now!

I’m a translator struggling with getting the past perfect correct in the story I’m working on. I find your article very helpful. Thank you 🙂

I have one question:

That morning, she had run her usual route to the store. As she turned the corner, she had come upon a disturbing scene. Apart from the glass and metal sprayed across the road like some outgoing tide’s deposit, there were what looked like two stretchers, mostly eclipsed from view by a swarm of emergency workers.

The above example sentences describe an event that had happened in the past from the narrator’s perspective, and that’s why the past perfect is used. Okay, no problem. But why isn’t everything in the past perfect? Why is it okay to leave some parts in simple past?

“As she turned the corner” instead of “As she had turned the corner” “there were what looked like two stretchers” instead of “there had been what looked two stretchers”

This is the exact issue I’m having in my story. When I put every single verb in the past perfect, the sentences sound very heavy, especially when the section describing the past event is long. But I’m not sure which parts are okay to leave in simple past.

Thank you for the feedback and for your question. You struck the exact reason there – stylistically, to put every single verb in past perfect does read clunkier and isn’t necessary. As long as there is a past-perfect verb establishing the time-frame of events, the rest of the events that are still contextually happening in the earlier time period don’t necessarily need past perfect. For example:

‘It happened last week. I had stopped by the vet shop to get my dog’s flea tablet [past perfect – prior action is established]. I was standing at the counter waiting to pay when I saw the new vet through the back entrance.’ If you wrote ‘I had been standing at the counter waiting to pay when I had seen the new vet…’ each instance of past perfect situates the action in a time period before the ‘main action’. Whereas the scene the narrator is describing is the main event unfolding after a prior action (stopping at the vet shop) situated before this encounter by past perfect tense.

There’s a useful article explaining past perfect further here: http://www.englishlessonsbrighton.co.uk/use-past-perfect-build-narratives/

Thank you so much for your quick response, Jordan! Your explanation and the link you shared are very helpful 😀

It’s a pleasure 🙂 Glad I could help! Good luck with your story.

Hi Jordan. I have a question regarding exceptions. Are there any? I’m busy writing a short and it currently starts out as “I live on the top floor of a two storey apartment complex.” I then proceed to recollect in past tense. The entire story takes place over the course of 1 night and ends with the protagonist still living there. I think – as I’m typing this out – I should probably change it to past tense right? The rest of story is written in past tense. I should treat the entire event as a recollection rather than get caught up in the fact that the protagonist is still currently living there. It just felt like I was setting it up as a “Once upon a time I lived on the top floor…” which is not really my intention. It’s part of series so “I” will still be living there. It just seemed like a nice opener using present tense. Any ideas on how I can achieve the same effect?

Thank you for sharing this interesting question. I can’t see any reason why you couldn’t begin and end on present. As long as the cuts between present and past are clear/signaled to your reader it should be fine. For example:

‘I live on the top floor of a two-storey apartment complex. You’ll know why I’ve shared this detail soon, as it connects to what I’m about to tell you about a strange event that happened two weeks ago.

I was….’

If you bookend a section in present tense this way, with a clear transition between the tenses using narration, it should be fine. The main thing with tenses is not to hop between tenses within the same narrative time-frame (for example ‘I am running down a dark street. I heard footsteps behind me.’ Here, there’s nothing to signal the passage between present and past and it’s confusing.

I hope this helps!

Hey! I’m a self-taught proofreader, not a writer myself (haven’t a creative bone in my body, sadly), and I’m having a great deal of difficulty learning present tense. Up until now, all the stories I’ve proofread have been in past tense, so I’m trying to teach myself how to correct tense errors.

However, many of the websites I’ve come across aren’t tutorials, they’re essays about why not to use present tense in fiction! Well, that’s up to the author to decide! The issue I’m having is mostly with knowing when to allow usage of past tense to go and when to correct it.

For instance, in this sentence: “Thrown by the jump in numbers, most viewers click back in the video just to double-check that Danny had indeed jumped from #3 to #6, before shrugging and continuing to watch.” I’m thinking that “had” needs to be “has”, but I’m not 100% sure. I like to be mostly sure before suggesting a change. Thanks. 🙂

Hi Tracy! Here the past perfect tense (‘had’) is acceptable because it describes an action completed before the present narrative time-frame (e.g. ‘I’m walking to the store now which had been closed this morning’ would be correct if the narrator were walking in the afternoon). If you wrote ‘I’m walking to the store now which has been closed this morning’ this would imply that it is still morning in the time of narration, due to ‘has’ here being in the present perfect tense (describing a past action or condition (‘being closed’) stretching into the present time).

‘Has’ in your example would read a little strangely as it could imply that Danny ‘has’ (in the present, continuing moment) jumped from #3 to #6.

I would say, since the video has already been recorded, that ‘had’ makes sense because Danny’s error (jumping from #3 to #6) ‘had’ been made at the time of recording, and had been viewed prior to the viewer’s realization. So both moments are squarely in the past rather than stretching into the present.

Does that make sense? 🙂 Tense will get you!

It absolutely does, thank you! I’m going to have to go back and reread certain things now, but I definitely understand this. So things that happened prior to the time frame in the story can be past tense, even in a present tense story! Thank you again, so very much, I’m trying so hard to learn this, but I just find it difficult. xD Your explanation certainly simplified it for me, though! ^_^

This post also sums up the differences very well: https://www.dailywritingtips.com/has-vs-had/

So, in short, can I use different tenses in my work of a story writing? In direct speech inverted commas are needed.Isn’t it?

MIXING PAST AND PRESENT TENSES

The following paragraph has a mixture of past and present tense. I believe it to be grammatically wrong but, to my mind, it doesn’t jar when I read it back and it gives the reader a sense of immediacy. My question is: Is it an absolute no-no or is there a degree of artist license here?

Archie flicked on the chainsaw’s master switch and pumped the primer a few times. Resting the saw on the ground he gave the cord a good hard yank. It clacked through its gears but didn’t catch. The second pull bit and snapped back stinging his fingers as it recoiled. “Son of a….” he yelped. The third pull sprung the chainsaw into life with a metallic shrill sending out a cloud of blue smoke that wafted across the laundry. Archie let it idle in a high pitched grumble and then tested it with a few pumps of the throttle that sent the chain shinning around the blade. “Seems okay” he yelled over the noise before killing the master switch. “I guess the real test will be half way through a tree.

Thank you for sharing that, there’s a great descriptive density to it and a clear sense of scene.

I’m curious as to why you think it mixes tenses? To my eyes, it’s all in past tense. You do have a participle phrase or two (e.g. ‘Resting the saw on the ground’) that provide a present/unfolding action, but these are used correctly within past tense for the overall narration (you do use it correctly to show one action that is ongoing during another – the finite verb ‘he gave…’ after that participle phrase still keeps the tense within past as expected).

It would be mixed if you had finite verbs in different tenses for events occurring in the same time-frame, e.g. ‘He rests the saw on the ground and gave the cord a good hard yank.’ This would be jarring because there would appear to be two different time-frames for actions unfolding within the same scene, thanks to present verb ‘rests’ and past verb ‘gave’. I hope this helps!

Great article, many thanks!

Brief question – when writing in the past tense, can you still use present tense for general statements? For example:

I woke up as usual at 5:47 station time when air supply unit number five, that occupied the majority of the level below our quarters, sprang into action, producing a constant humming that would last for the next eight hours. It is never completely quiet on a space station, there are always sounds, vibrations and audible movements, and you learn to live with it. It never bothered me, it was the only life I knew.

Hi Stephan, it’s a pleasure. I’m glad you found it helpful.

Thank you for sharing your question. That does scan fine. In the first instance, there is a participle phrase which creates the sense of a presently unfolding action within the past time-frame (‘producing a constant humming…’). This is correct usage.

Then the flip to present informs the reader of a general, ongoing state of affairs which is where we would use present tense. It depends on the site in time from which the narrator is speaking. If they are no longer living in the quarters when narrating this, then perhaps ‘It was never completely quiet on the space station…’ would make more sense (past tense for recounting conditions no longer being experienced). But if they are still based at the station, then present tense narration for a general state of affairs in their environment fits, as presumably it still isn’t ever completely quiet when they’re narrating this.

I hope this helps! Thanks for the great question.

Thank you for this article. I found it helpful. Both of my main characters at one point recall their dreams. Since they are recalling them, I would write them in past tense correct?

Hi Chelsea, it’s a pleasure! Not necessarily. I find authors often use present tense for this (especially if the main narration is in past tense). It would look something like:

But then I remembered the dream I had…

I’m standing in a wide, open field. I hear someone calling from the other side …

Present tense does create a sense of the unfolding moment that suits the sense of reenacting an interesting event, so personally I would lean towards that. I hope this helps. Just remember whichever tense you’re using to have a narrative link that clarifies that the narration is now crossing over into the dream description (in my example above, it’s the words ‘But then I remembered the dream I had).

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Verbs are direct, vigorous communicators. Use a chosen verb tense consistently throughout the same and adjacent paragraphs of a paper to ensure smooth expression.

Use the following verb tenses to report information in APA Style papers.

Verb tense is covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Section 4.12 and the Concise Guide Section 2.12

From the APA Style blog

Check your tone: Keeping it professional

When writing an APA Style paper, present ideas in a clear and straightforward manner. In this kind of scholarly writing, keep a professional tone.

The “no second-person” myth

Many writers believe the “no second-person” myth, which is that there is an APA Style guideline against using second-person pronouns such as “you” or “your.” On the contrary, you can use second-person pronouns in APA Style writing.

The “no first-person” myth

Whether expressing your own views or actions or the views or actions of yourself and fellow authors, use the pronouns “I” and “we.”

Navigating the not-so-hidden treasures of the APA Style website

This post links directly to APA Style topics of interest that users may not even know exist on the website.

Welcome, singular “they”

This blog post provides insight into how this change came about and provides a forum for questions and feedback.

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The present tense is when we are talking about the here and now as well as actions that can be considered continuous. Examples of present tense could be “Bill is walking towards the door” or “I love to read each and every day”

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Is It Really Important to Get the Tense Correct in Your Writing?

It does not matter what the subject is of your writing, confusing the tenses can make it very difficult to understand by your readers. This can lead you to get lower grades if you are a student or far more serious consequences if you are writing in a more professional setting. Imagine a sales pitch that is poorly written, how persuasive would it be if the reader can easily see your errors? Using a free verb tense consistency checker can help you to avoid any problems and it will only take a few minutes of your time.

You need to ensure that your writing will always convey the correct impression. Yet it is so easy to make simple mistakes and overlook them when you proofread your own writing. This is why using a tense checker online is something you should always do. It will take only a few minutes of your time and could avoid problems that are so simple to correct.

How Can You Use Our Tense Shift Checker?

There really is nothing difficult when it comes to using our past or present tense detector. We have made our free tool as simple as possible to use while giving you a full review of your writing. Our tool does not simply check your work for the perfect use of tenses. Our verb corrector is able to highlight and correct a wide range of issues within your writing that could cause you problems. This includes all of the following.

From spelling words incorrectly to confusing similar works such as dessert and desert, our tool will highlight and correct any mistakes in your writing

Punctuation

From the incorrect use of colons and semicolons through to misplaced commas our tool will find any punctuation marks that you may have used incorrectly

The English language has many rules that define how it should be written. While we follow many of them unconsciously there are still times when we get things wrong in our writing

 Our tool checks for hundreds of different rules which can include all the following:

• Fragments and run on sentences
• Comma splices
• Dangling modifiers
• Double negatives
• Pronoun errors
• Subject-verb agreement

How to Use Our Online Tense Checker

Highlight the text that you wish to check: this can be a single sentence, a paragraph, or a whole document.

Paste the text into the box provided: simple use of copy and paste is all that is required to provide the tool with text that needs to be tested.

Press “Start”: the tool will quickly check all your writing to highlight any errors that it discovers within your text. The whole check will take just a few seconds depending on the length of your writing.

Review and make correction: our faulty tense sequence checker will highlight all problems that need work. You can either select the suggestions that the tool makes for correction or you can make alternative changes.

Recheck : after you have finished making your alterations it is best practice to recheck the work to ensure that there are no issues within the changes that you have made.

Benefits of Using Verb Tense Checker

Enhance your writing by correcting all types of tense verbs in your text through our tense checker online free application. Our professional-grade software platform is designed to offer numerous advantages in the shape of a range of highly appropriate capabilities and features. All types of writers can make the most of those features and capabilities of our free tense checker tool in polishing their respective writings to achieve the desired objectives perfectly. A few top benefits of using our online tense checker essay app include:

Substantial Cost-Saving

One of the most fundamental benefits of using our specialized grammar and tense checker is that it helps you save huge costs for editing, proofreading, and enhancing your writing. Our software tool is absolutely free to use with a freemium subscription with basic features and capabilities. You can use it as many times as you like without any restrictions for 100% free of charge. If you want to use our premium subscription with advanced features and capabilities, you have to pay a very small monthly charge with numerous additional features and unlimited access to check numerous types of drafts for an entire month. It saves money tens of times compared with the manual editing and proofreading service. Using our platform in the freemium subscription is the best option for students and other writers with limited budgets and other monetary constraints. Purchasing long-period subscriptions saves you even more money in the form of discounts and incentives.

Huge Time-Saving

Our grammar checker past tense tool is an online software application, which checks your text automatically with very electric speed to save you huge time. Online and automatic applications can save you time in two major ways – faster processing speed and round-the-clock availability. You can submit your text to our online platform at any time from anywhere in the world through supported web browsers without any waiting queue for your turn as it happens in the manual time-consuming process. You are not affected by any holidays, weekends, festivals, weather conditions, or any other similar kind of hindrance to waste your time. The other way to save your time is the faster speed of text checking and correcting. The process of checking for any kind of verb-tense or other grammatical issues in your writing is accomplished within a few seconds. After identifying the errors in your writing, the process of correction is also very fast to help you save enormous time.

Unified Solution

Another benefit offered by our software platform to find the tense of a sentence online error is comprehensiveness. Our reliable verb tense checker online tool is capable of finding a wide range of writing issues to make your writing a perfect piece of text. The most important errors that our online platform can find in your text include present, past, and future tense errors and their verb conjugate mistakes, all types of active voice and passive voice misuses, parts of speech mistakes, spelling and punctuation issues, incomplete sentences, comma splices, run-on sentences, prepositional phrase issues, incorrect referencing of a noun to pronoun, dangling qualifiers of adjectives and adverbs errors, direct and indirect narration problems, misuses of articles, incorrect word choices, faulty degrees of adjectives, mistakes in irregular and regular verbs, incorrect citation or referencing styles, titles, and sub-title issues, capitalization of words as well as headings, and many other writing matters under one single roof.

Greater Accuracy

The accuracy and reliability are other very attractive benefits offered by our online verb tense error checker tool. The accuracy of the results checked through our specialized platform is unparalleled among the competitors in the market. A wide range of writers, industries, and academic institutes heavily appreciate the reliability of our online platform. Our online application to check present tense and other grammatical errors offers this level of accuracy due to numerous factors. A few most important factors that produce a higher level of reliability and correctness in the results include the incorporation of expert input and feedback into the automated algorithms, implementation of cutting-edge technologies such as machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), artificial intelligence (AI) and many others, and the adoption of continual improvement mechanism in our algorithm as well as software backbone infrastructure. You will get extremely impeccable results by checking your text through our online platform easily.

Industry-Standard Compliance

Our online grammar and present tense essay checker tool are capable of organizing and aligning your writings as per the formats, setups, and criteria required for compliance with different industrial, academic, and linguistic standards. A large number of referencing styles such as American Psychological Association (APA), Modern Language Association (MLA), Chicago, Harvard, and Oxford are supported by our online platform. These standards are used in a large number of academics as well as in journalism. Different papers and essays are created based on different versions of accents of the English language. Our tense checker online platform supports many versions of the English language so that the criteria of different standards and industries can be accomplished. A few of the most important English versions supported by our online platform include American English, British English, Australian English, Indian, Middle-East, Malaysian, Brazilian, and many others.

Additional Benefits

A large number of additional features and capabilities that provide different types of advantages to different types of writers are also offered by our specialized grammar and tense verb checker online platform. A few of those additional benefits associated with our online app include the detection of plagiarized text in your writing to make them free from any plagiarism and copyright infringement. To achieve 100% results from the text, the tone of the text should be appropriate to the mood of the audience or reader. Our online tool assesses the tone of your text and helps you streamline the text in terms of sentiments, effectiveness, and other attributes of the writing to leave a great impression on the readers. By using our online tool, you can improve your editing, proofreading, and grammatical skills through corrective suggestions continually. Every correction offered by our online tool is supported by proper explanation and logic to keep you learning always.

What Issues Can Our Verb Tense Finder Correct?

A simple grammar tense check such as ours can quickly correct a wide variety of issues within your writing to help you to get the best results. Often, we make mistakes without thinking and can rarely see those mistakes when we read through our own work. Most of us are blind to our own writing mistakes no matter how hard we look. This is why a software tool is so important. Software does not get tired or overlook anything. By using a tool, you can easily find problems that would otherwise slip through. The following are a few examples of mismatched tense use that would otherwise be able to get through to your readers:

Some examples of poor use of the future tense:

“I will give you the job when your studies will be complete.”

While this may look ok at first glance as everything is constructed in the future tense it is not. If the main clause uses a verb in the future tense the subordinate clause’s verb will be in the present tense. So the above sentence should be:

“I will give you the job when your studies are complete.”

Mixing tense use within your writing:

“My instructor really liked to bully me and is always shouting at me to keep up with the others.”

Within the above sentence the verb “to bully” is being used in the past tense whilst the “shouting” is being done in the present tense. To maintain the tenses, it should be:

“My instructor really liked to bully me and was always shouting at me to keep up with the others.”

 When you write, always decide right from the start what tense you will use. While your story may connect with the reader if you draw them along using the present tense, suddenly slipping into past tense could quickly lose them.

What Is the Quickest Way to Correct Your Grammar and Tense Use?

Many people still prefer to read through their own work, often simply skimming through what they have written and hoping that they catch any errors. This is rarely effective, and you will often submit writing that is full of problems that will stand out like a sore thumb to the reader.

While this can be made more effective by a more methodical approach it will take time. Checking through a sentence at a time and considering the construction of each part of your writing piece by piece can help you discover more. But for many this is simply too time consuming.

One of the most effective ways of finding the most common errors in writing is to simply read the work aloud. With the gadgets we have today it is easy to record your work and play it back to yourself. Often incorrect tense use and other grammar problems will be easier to hear than to read. But again, this can take time and you may still miss things that others may see. Asking a friend to proofread your work is also an effective way of improving your writing. However, few of us have friends that are willing or have the time to help us in that manner. Therefore, it is often best to have your grammar tense check completed by a software tool. Software does not get tired, nor will it miss anything. Using our tense checker is free and will quickly find issues that you would otherwise overlook.

Make full use of our free online tense checker to ensure that you always submit writing of the highest standard every time!

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How to form simple past verbs in English and when to use them

English may not have as many verb forms as other languages you know—but those few forms come with a lot of complications!

The simple past is no different: There is a lot to learn, from irregular verbs to forming questions and negative sentences. Plus you have to understand the difference between the simple past and other tenses.

Here's everything you need to know about how to form the simple past in English, how it's pronounced, and when to use it!

In this post:

When is the simple past used, how do you form the simple past.

Verbs with irregular simple past forms

Negation of simple past

Questions in the simple past, pronunciation of the simple past, simple past vs. simple present perfect.

In English, the simple past is used to talk about things that started and ended in the past. For example:

• I called my mom last night.
• We played basketball yesterday.
• They went to the store two days ago.

Most commonly, the simple past follows a simple formula:

For example: 

However, If the base form of a regular verb already ends with an -e , you only need to add a -d for the past:

If the base form of a regular verb ends with a consonant followed by a -y , change the -y to -i and then add -ed :

Finally, if the base form of a regular verb ends with consonant-vowel-consonant, you usually double the last consonant and then add -ed:

Past forms of irregular verbs

One of the tricky parts of the simple past is that there are many irregular verbs, for which the past form of the verb does not follow the regular -ed pattern. Some common irregular verbs and their past tense forms include:

In addition to the irregular verbs above, the verb to be is also irregular. I and he/she/it take the past form was , while you , we , you (plural) and they all take the past form were:

To form negative sentences in the simple past, add the words did not before the base form of the verb. Did not is also often written as the contraction didn’t :

You can ask questions using the simple past. Usually with questions in this tense, you add the word did . However, you don’t need to add did for questions using was or were . Here are the most common types of questions and resources to study them more:

Yes/no questions

Q: Did you close the door? A: Yes, I closed the door.

Q: Was Zari excited? A: Yes, Zari was definitely excited.

Wh- questions

Q: Where did they watch the movie? A: They watched the movie at home.

Q: When was Oscar in Italy? A: He was in Italy last year for an art symposium?

Tag questions

You didn’t buy more cheese, did you? She didn’t lose her keys, did she?

The -ed at the end of regular verbs in the simple past is pronounced differently depending on the last sound in the base verb. (Remember to think about the last sound and not the last letter !)

If the base form of the verb ends with a voiceless sound (this means you don’t vibrate your vocal folds), the -ed is pronounced as “t.” Voiceless sounds include "p," "f," "s," "sh," "ch," and "k." For example, the -ed at the end of pushed, watched, and kissed are all pronounced “t.”

If the base form of the verb ends with a voiced sound (this means you vibrate your vocal folds), the -ed is pronounced as “d. ” Voiced sounds include all vowel sounds as well as "b," "m," "w," "v," "th" (as in the ), "z," "r," "y" (as in you ), "n," and "g." For example, the -ed at the end of played , loved , and rained are all pronounced “d.”

Finally, if the base form of the verb ends with the sound “d” or “t,” the -ed is pronounced as its own syllable, “id.” For example, the -ed at the end of decided , hosted , and pretended are all pronounced “id.”

The simple past isn't the only way to talk about events in the past in English—there's also the simple present perfect.

So how do you know when to use one form or the other?

Meanwhile, the simple present perfect (have/has + past participle) is used for events that started in the past but have some connection to the present (perhaps they’re still continuing today, might happen again, or are affecting something in the present).

Depending on which one you use, the meaning of your sentence will change:

Keywords to look for

There are certain words that often appear with the simple past and others that more commonly appear with the simple present perfect. These signal words are great clues to help you know which tense works best with your sentence.

Simple past signal words

• two days ago
• two weeks ago
• two months ago
• two years ago

Simple present perfect signal words

Irregular verbs: past and past participle forms

In general, learning the past and past participle forms of irregular verbs will help you be a confident English speaker! Use the following table to help you:

Make the simple past simple to learn!

Maybe in the past 😉 you were confused about the simple past, but with practice and this handy guide, you will be a simple past star! ⭐

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