A verb is a part of speech that says what a subject is, was, or will be or does, did, or will do.

Verb tense means that a verb refers to a different time, for example, present, past, or future, etc.

Present tense: love or loves—I love, but he, she, or it loves.

Simple past: loved

Present Perfect: Uses “have” or “has” as the helping verb depending upon the subject; for example, I have loved, he has loved, and they have loved.

Past Perfect: Uses “had” as the helping verb regardless of the subject. Examples: I had loved, he had loved, and they had loved.

Present Progressive: Uses “am, are, or is” as helping verbs. Examples: I am going, you are going, he is going, and they are going.

Past Progressive: Uses “was” or “were” as helping verbs—I was going, he was going, you were going, and they were going.

Present Passive: Uses the present tense form of the verb “Be” with the past participle of the main verb: I am loved, you are loved, he is loved, and they are loved.

Past Passive: Uses the past tense form of the verb “Be” with the past participle of the main verb—I was loved, he was loved, you were loved, and they were loved.

We also have other tenses that deal with the future and with probabilities; for example, I will love, he would love, he would have loved, he should have loved, he will be loving, he should have been loving, if he had loved, and the list goes on. J

Remember, that we have regular verbs, to which you add either “d” or “ed” to create both the simple past and the past participle; but we also have irregular verbs, which form their simple past and past participle in other ways.

Regular Verbs

Love(s)	Loved	Loved	Loving
Walk(s)	Walked	Walked	Walking
Ask(s)	Asked	Asked	Asking

Irregular Verbs

Base	Simple Past	Past Participle	Progressive
Arise(s)	Arose	Arisen	Arising
Awake(s)	Awoke	Awakened	Awaking
Become(s)	Became	Become	Becoming
Begin(s)	Began	Begun	Beginning
Bring(s)	Brought	Brought	Bringing
Build(s)	Built	Built	Building
Burst(s)	Burst	Burst	Bursting
Choose(s)	Chose	Chosen	Choosing
Come(s)	Came	Come	Coming
Forgive(s)	Forgave	Forgiven	Forgiving
Freeze(s)	Froze	Frozen	Freezing
Have (has)	Had	Had	Having
Lay(s)	Laid	Laid	Laying
Lie(s)	Lay	Lain	Lying
Run(s)	Ran	Run	Running
Rise(s)	Rose	Risen	Rising
Seem(s)	Seemed	Seemed	Seeming
Set(s)	Set	Set	Setting
Sit(s)	Sat	Sat	Sitting
Swim	Swam	Swum	Swimming
Teach	Taught	Taught	Teaching
Think	Thought	Thought	Thinking
Wear(s)	Wore	Worn	Wearing

Using the chart above, select the correct verb tense.

1.         (Begin) I had ______________ my work before she disturbed me for the zillionth time.

2.         (Love) Tom and Sue _________________ one another from the moment they met.

3.         (Begin) The beaches near her summerhouse are ________________ to erode.

4.         (Seem) When I first met them, I thought they ____________________ like such nice people.

5.         (Ask) I have __________________ you for the last time to clean up that pigsty of a room.

6.         (Have) I was _______________________ a great time, in spite of John’s being a guest.

7.         (Lay) When he walked into the room, the first thing Ivan did was take off his coat and _______________ it on a chair.

8.         (Lay) Last night when he walked into the room, Ivan __________________ his coat on a chair.

9.         (Lie) Mother said, “I am going to go __________ down and take a nap.”

10.     (Lie) Teri has _______________ down to take a nap.

11.     (Sit) I do believe that Mark has ___________ in front of that TV the entire day.

12.     (Set) Martha looked around the room then _____________ the vase on a table near the window.

13.     (Lay) Yesterday, I ___________ my watch on the kitchen table, and now it’s missing.

14.     (Lie) Tom and Peg had just ___________ down when the doorbell rang.

15.     (Go) She has ___________________ to the mall to spend all of her husband’s money.

16.     (Go) She _______________ to see her mother who has been ill.

17.     (Swim) After almost an hour in the water, Nathan realized that he had finally _______________ the entire length of the lake.

18.     (Freeze) Putting his hands on his hips in defiance, Brad said, “The lake has _____________ over, and I am going ice fishing whether you like it or not.”

19.     (Bring) For the church picnic, Aunt Leona ________________ her infamous chicken casserole.

20.     (Begin—Run) Since Halley ___________ running, she has ______________ on a daily basis.