Language Network

Using
UsingPhrases
Verbs
 Using Verbs

Using Verb Tenses

Here’s the Idea
Using Simple Tenses
Using Perfect Tenses

Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
 Here’s the Idea

Verb Tense

A tense is a verb form that shows

the time of an action or condition.
Here’s the Idea

English verbs have

six tenses.

Simple Tenses
Present, Past, Future

Perfect Tenses
Present Perfect,
Past Perfect,
Future Perfect
 Here’s the Idea

Use tenses to indicate whether an

action or condition is in the past,
the present, or the future,
and to indicate how events
are related in time.
 Here’s the Idea

The present tense shows that an action

or condition
• is occurring in the present
• occurs regularly
• is constantly or generally true

I like to read about real-life

adventures.
 Here’s the Idea

The past tense shows

that an action or condition
occurred in the past.

Yossi Ghinsberg explored the rain

forests near the Tuichi River.
 Here’s the Idea

The future tense shows

that an action or condition
will occur in the future.

When you get to the part where Yossi has been

left in the rain forest, you will be eager to find
out what happens to him.
 Here’s the Idea

The present perfect shows that

an action or condition
• was completed at one or more
indefinite times in the past
• began in the past and continues
in the present

So far, I have learned that Yossi is a young

Israeli man who is on an adventure through the
rain forests of Bolivia.
 Here’s the Idea

The past perfect shows that an action or

condition in the past preceded another past
action or condition.

After the men had experienced difficult

travel for several weeks, two of them gave
up and headed back to civilization on foot.
 Here’s the Idea

The future perfect shows that an action or

condition in the future will precede another
future action or condition.

You may wonder if any wild animals

will have attacked Yossi before he
reaches the nearest village.
 Why It Matters

Choosing the correct verb tense allows you to

be clear about when events occur in time.
 Practice and Apply

Replace the underlined verb with

the correct tense.

1. Even now, William Shakespeare

has ranked as the greatest writer in
English.
 Practice and Apply

Replace the underlined verb with

the correct tense.

2. Shakespeare has grown up in a

middle-class family.
 Practice and Apply

Replace the underlined verb with

the correct tense.

3. When theaters closed because of

the plague, Shakespeare writes
poetry.
 Practice and Apply

Replace the underlined verb with

the correct tense.

4. Not much was known today about

his private life.
 Using Verbs

Shifts in Tense
Here’s the Idea
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
 Here’s the Idea

Switch tenses only as

needed for clarity or style.
Improper or unnecessary
shifts will make your writing
awkward and confusing.
 Here’s the Idea

Stick with one tense when describing actions

related to a single period or event or when
writing about a series of events.
PAST TENSE

Michiko finished her history assignment and

turned on a public television channel.
PAST TENSE
 Here’s the Idea

When you are describing an event

as a point of reference for another
event, you can shift from a perfect
tense to a simple tense.

PAST PERFECT TENSE

Michiko had been at the library for an hour

when she found a book about Alaska.
PAST TENSE
 Why It Matters

Keep verb tenses consistent unless you have

a good reason not to.

Mixing verb tenses

unnecessarily can
confuse your readers.
 Practice and Apply

Choose the correct form of the verb

in parentheses.

5. Sandra Cisneros (grows, grew) up in

Chicago.
 Practice and Apply

Choose the correct form of the verb

in parentheses.

6. Because she felt lonely as a child,

Cisneros (read, will read) books for
comfort.
 Practice and Apply

Choose the correct form of the verb

in parentheses.

7. By the time Cisneros published her

first book, she already (spent, had
spent) time teaching high-school
dropouts.
 Practice and Apply

Choose the correct form of the verb

in parentheses.

8. Cisneros’s readers enjoy her books,

which (combine, combined) fiction

and poetry.
 Using Verbs

Active and Passive Voice

Here’s the Idea
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
 Here’s the Idea

When a verb’s subject performs

the action expressed by the verb,
the verb is in the active voice.

PERFORMER OF ACTION VERB

A group of 16 countries constructed

the International Space Station.
 Here’s the Idea

When a verb’s
subject receives the
action expressed by
a verb, the verb is in
the passive voice.

RECEIVER OF ACTION VERB

The International Space Station was constructed
by a group of 16 countries.
 Here’s the Idea

Use the passive voice only when you

want to emphasize the receiver of the
action or when the performer of the
action is not known.
 Here’s the Idea

Here’s how to change passive voice to

active voice:
1. Determine the verb and the performer
1. of the action.

The space station is being

visited by astronauts.
 Here’s the Idea

2. Move the performer of the action

2. before the verb and change the verb
2. to the active voice.

Astronauts is visiting the space station.

 Here’s the Idea

3. Make sure the verb agrees in number

2. with the new subject.

Astronauts are visiting the space station.

 Why It Matters

If you use the passive voice

too often, it can make your
writing vague and lifeless.
 Practice and Apply

Rewrite the sentence to change the verb

from the passive voice to the active voice.

9. Numerous plays and short stories

were written by Kurt Vonnegut.
 Practice and Apply

Rewrite the sentence to change the verb

from the passive voice to the active voice.

10. Vonnegut was captured by the

Germans during World War II.
 Practice and Apply

Rewrite the sentence to change the verb

from the passive voice to the active voice.

11. He was assigned by his captors to

work in Dresden, Germany.
 Practice and Apply

Rewrite the sentence to change the verb

from the passive voice to the active voice.

12. This experience was described by

Vonnegut in Slaughterhouse Five.