Choosing and keeping tenses · Year 2
In Year 2 you learn: keeping to one tense.
A good piece of writing chooses a tense and keeps to it. A story about yesterday stays in the past; a description of what happens every day stays in the present. Change the tense only when the time you are writing about changes: I live in Cape Town now, but I lived in Durban when I was small.
Key facts
- Choose the tense for the time: past for finished events (went), present for habits and facts (go), future for later (will go).
- Keep every verb in that tense: Yesterday I went to the park and played football. (not play).
Worked examples
Example 1
Correct it: Last summer we visited Cairo and see the pyramids.
Answer: Last summer we visited Cairo and saw the pyramids.
Example 2
Choose: Every evening Grandpa reads the paper and ___ a cup of tea. (drank / drinks)
Answer: drinks
Example 3
Choose the verb that matches: Yesterday I woke up and (brush / brushed) my teeth.
Answer: brushed
Example 4
Correct the tense: On Saturday we went to the park and we play on the swings.
Answer: On Saturday we went to the park and we played on the swings.
Example 5
Which verb is in the wrong tense? Every day she walks to school and ate her lunch at noon.
Answer: ate: it should be eats