Past, Present and Progressive Tense · seed 1 · A4, ink-friendly. The answer key prints on its own page for grown-ups.

Past, Present, and Progressive Tense

English · Grammar & Punctuation · ages 6-9
Name ______________________   Date ____________

  1. Which sentence shows something that was still going on in the past?

    • The rain falls every April.
    • The rain fell all morning.
    • The rain was falling all morning.

  2. Which sentence is in the present tense?

    • Leo kicked the ball.
    • Leo is kicking the ball.
    • Leo kicks the ball.

  3. Which sentence tells about something that happens often?

    • Nia brushes her teeth every night.
    • Nia brushed her teeth last night.
    • Nia is brushing her teeth right now.

  4. Which time words are a clue to use the past tense?

    • Every day
    • Last week
    • Right now

  5. Change 'She is drumming' to the past tense.

    • She drums.
    • She was drumming.
    • She drum.

  6. Change this sentence to the present tense: 'She walked.'

    • She walks.
    • She is walking.
    • She walk.

  7. True or false: 'Yesterday, Ben walked his dog and feeds him' keeps one tense the whole way.

    Circle one:   True   False

  8. Pick the verb that keeps this passage in past tense: 'Yesterday, Sam ___ to the store and bought bread.'

    • walked
    • is walking
    • walks

  9. Zara wrote: 'First I climbed the hill. Then I look at the view.' Which word should she change to keep the story in the past?

    • climbed, to climbs
    • look, to looked
    • Nothing needs to change

  10. Mia wrote: 'Right now, Sam washed the dishes.' How should she fix the sentence?

    • Change right now to yesterday
    • Keep washed and add later
    • Change washed to is washing
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Answer key

For grown-ups. Fold this page away before handing over the rest.

Past, Present, and Progressive Tense W1-mt_enj1sMcfOT-s1

  1. The rain was falling all morning. · Was falling uses was plus -ing, so the rain was still coming down back then.
  2. Leo kicks the ball. · Kicks is the plain present form. Kicked is past, and is kicking is the progressive.
  3. Nia brushes her teeth every night. · Brushes every night is the present tense used for things that happen again and again.
  4. Last week · Last week is already over, so verbs about it go in the past tense.
  5. She was drumming. · Swap is for was to move the ongoing action into the past.
  6. She walks. · Walked drops its -ed and takes -s to become walks. Is walking would be the progressive.
  7. False · Walked is past but feeds is present. Feeds should change to match walked.
  8. walked · The passage starts with yesterday, so every verb should stay in past tense: walked.
  9. look, to looked · Climbed is already past. Look is the odd one out, so change it to looked.
  10. Change washed to is washing · Right now needs the progressive form: is washing.
Worksheet · LightMySky