In Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow you told when things happen. In Helping Verbs and Verb Phrases you met will, have and be as helpers. A verb’s tense shows time. The three simple tenses are the base of all the others.
| Tense | Form | Use | Time words |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simple past | walked, saw | a finished action | yesterday, last week, in 2019 |
| Simple present | walk, walks | habits, facts and what is true now | every day, usually, always |
| Simple future | will walk | what is still to come | tomorrow, next year, soon |
Spelling the past with -ed: hope → hoped (just add -d after e); stop → stopped (one vowel, one consonant: double it); carry → carried (consonant + y: change y to i); play → played (vowel + y: just add -ed).
Key idea
Use the simple past for a finished action, the simple present for habits and facts, and will + the verb for the future.
Why it works
Tense puts events on a timeline. A reader who sees walked knows it is over; walks says it happens regularly; will walk says it hasn’t happened yet.
Worked example: A time word
Last summer we (visit) the lake.
- Last summer is finished time.
- Use the simple past: visit + -ed.
Answer: Last summer we visited the lake.
Worked example: A fact
At sea level, water (boil) at 212°F.
- This is always true, not one event.
- Facts and habits use the simple present; water is singular, so add -s.
Answer: At sea level, water boils at 212°F.
Worked example: Spelling
Write the simple past of stop and carry.
- Stop ends in one vowel and one consonant: double the p.
- Carry ends in consonant + y: change y to i and add -ed.
Answer: stopped, carried
Common mistake
Thinking English has only three tenses. The simple tenses are the base; the progressive (I am walking) and the perfect (I have walked) add shades of time, for twelve forms in all. (Some grammar books count only past and present as true tenses and call will a helping verb; school grammars usually count all twelve.)