Identify the Past and Present Tense

Look at the sentence below:

I am walking my dog.

Which tense is this sentence written in?

This sentence is written in the present tense.

Present Tense

We use the present tense when we’re talking about something that is happening right now.

For example:

I am drinking my tea.

He is playing football.

We also use the present tense to talk about something that happens often.

For example:

She plays hockey.

I read books.

The verbs read and plays are written in the simple present tense.

Past Tense

We use the past tense to talk about things that have already happened.

For example:

I walked to the shops.

Jay played basketball.

The verbs walked and played are written in the simple past tense.

Lots of past tense verbs end in -ed but there are some exceptions.

Here are some of the exceptions:

Can you use the past tense of the verb in brackets so that this sentence is written in the past tense?

I _____ (walk) to the park.

The past tense of walk is walked so our sentence should read:

I walked to the park.

In this activity, you’ll be looking out for sentences written in the present and past tense. Remember that lots of past tense verbs end in -ed.