06: Past tense

This is Lesson #6 of a unit of 10.

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Teacher Slide

Objective: grammar

To understand, identify and apply the past tense, including the past progressive form of the verb.

Objective: writing

To explore when the past tense is used in writing and apply this to the pupils’ own writing.

Terminology for pupils:

tense, past tense

In the previous lesson we talked about 'tense'. Does anyone remember what tense is?

Below are some sentences written in the present tense. What would happen to them if we wanted to write them in the past tense?

Today we will be looking at verbs in the past tense.

Sometimes, the spelling of the verb changes completely when we put it into the past tense.

What do you notice about the sentences shown below?

Here we have two verbs!

The first verb in each sentence (was and were) is in the past tense, and it is followed by another verb that has -ing on the end. This allows us to talk or write about things that happened for a while in the past.

Can you think of some other examples, describing what you did last weekend?

Answers

Can you create a sentence using a verb in the past tense for each of these pictures? For example,

Can you then write a sentence using a verb in the past tense followed by a verb which has -ing on the end, for each of these pictures? For example,

Take a look at this sentence, from the last lesson:

  1. What do you think is the difference between She raced through the jungle and She was racing through the jungle?
  2. Which version do you prefer, and why?

Now let's think about writing.

Can you write a story which uses verbs in the past tense?

What three things have you learnt about the past tense of verbs?

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