'Verb tense' tutor notes
The aim of the 'Verb tense' topic area is first to help learners to understand what a verb is. Tenses are explained as a way of indicating when something happened, followed by an explanation of how the spelling of verbs changes according to tense, but also according to the subject (I like, he likes, etc).
How does this tie in with the curriculums?
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England
Ws/E3.2 - Grammar and punctuation: use correct basic grammar, e.g. appropriate verb tense, subject-verb agreement
understand the concepts of past, present and future, that human beings exist in time, and that language reflects this through the tenses of verbs which can change form to convey time past, present or future
understand that verbs convey actions (physical and non-physical)
understand that a verb and its subject or 'doer' must 'agree'; both must be either singular (i.e. one) or plural (i.e. more than one)
understand that in some regional varieties of spoken English the subject and verb do not always agree (e.g. we was, he were) but, as written English is a non-regional standard, writers use the same written forms wherever they live
know and understand the terms verb, tense, subject of a sentence
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Wales
As England
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Northern Ireland
As England
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Scotland
See www.aloscotland.com for details of the Scottish curriculum.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
In this Skillswise module you'll find...
Verb tense - games
The game for this module is called 'Logging tenses'. Players must guide Bryan the beaver across the river by jumping on the right logs to complete the sentences in the correct tense, and so that they make sense. There is a choice to play the easy or the hard version of the game.
Please do tell us what you think of these games.
Verb tense - quiz
The learner can choose their level. Level A is the easiest and level C the hardest. The student can print out a certificate if they score 50% or more in the quiz. This will appear as a link on the results page - click on the link and the certificate will appear in a new window. Learners can write their name in once the certificate is printed.
Verb tense - factsheets
There are two factsheets in this section. They start by explaining what a verb is, then go on to explain how tenses show when something happened. Learners are then shown how the spelling of verbs changes according to tense, but also according to the subject.
Verb tense - worksheets
There are three printable worksheets with answersheets in this section. The first simply asks learners to identify the verb in each sentence. The second asks learners to put 'past', 'present' or 'future' beside each sentence. The third gives practice at subject-verb agreement.
Technical help:
To get the most out of this topic area you need the following 'plug-ins':
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Flash 7
The game in this topic section uses Flash 7. This is free to download and should only take a few minutes. You can follow the BBC WebWise instructions to download it to your machine.
Find out more.
If you don't have Flash 7 the same learning points are covered in the quiz, worksheets and factsheets.
Please note: the flash game in this section is quite graphical. Please allow about 1 minute for the game to download. Download times will vary according to your connection speed and how busy the network is.
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Adobe PDF documents
Note that you will need the free Adobe Acrobat software on your machine to view PDF documents.
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FlashPapers
We have provided the worksheets and factsheets as both PDF files and FlashPaper files. For screenreader users you should choose the FlashPaper version as these are designed to be screenreader accessible. If you don't need a screenreader it doesn't matter which type you use.
If you want to print the factsheets we recommend you use the PDF version provided. However, if you do want to print a FlashPaper, you must use the print button within the FlashPaper window (top right). Your internet browser can't tell what size to print these kind of documents, so if you use the print option in the 'file' menu it may print out completely the wrong size.
If you are new to the web, why not take a look at WebWise. You can try the WebWise online course or be shown the basics by our Computer Tutor. It's free and it will take you through everything you need to know to use the web successfully in your teaching. Get WebWise.
If you would like to get more help using Skillswise, check out the Help pages.
Taking it further:
With Skillswise:
Getting the right tense (level 1).
Subject-verb agreement (level 1).
Don't forget to check out the Skillswise Lesson plans and Teaching inspirations areas about teaching verb tense.
On the web:
BBC World Service Virtual English Masterclass
answers your questions about the English grammar: Verb agreement and collective nouns. Verbs have to agree with their subject: a plural subject requires a plural verb.
Here are a few suggestions of other places on the web that you might find useful resources that you can adapt for teaching Verb tense.
Please note that the BBC is not responsible for the content of other websites.
Do you know of any great online resources for practising verbs? Tell us about them!
