Fundamentals of teaching verb tenses

Fundamentals of teaching verb tenses

Verb conjugation is one part of learning English Grammar. Tenses conjugation can be memorized easily, however knowing when to use the correct verb tense is more difficult.

“Form” verb tense and “function” verb tense also need to be taught as they are very important.

Five Forms (Present Progressive used)

1. Affirmative Use (He is driving the car.).

2. Negative Use (He is not driving the car.)

3. Yes/No Question (Is he driving the car?)

4. Short Answers (Yes, he is. No, he isn’t.)

5. WH- Questions (Where is he driving the car?)

Conjugation of subject pronouns such as I, he, she, you, it, we and they, would be taught in conjunction with Present Progressive tenses.

1. I am singing in the street.

2. You are singing in the street.

3. He/She/It is singing in the street.

4. They are singing in the street.

5. We are singing in the street.

Yippee!

Present Progressive Function

Function is important for particular verb tenses. Students need to know the correct function/s of tenses to be able to use them effectively.

The main function of Present Progressive is in describing the process of something at a specific time. As for example:

I am typing a paper on verb tenses at this very moment.

Present Continuous or Present Progressive is used to talk about what is happening at a certain time. For example:

Q: What have you been doing lately?

A: I am currently teaching ESL students.

The future plans function of tenses is used to find out what someone is doing in the future. For example:

Q: What is happening tonight?

A: I am making a birthday cake.

When students learn the three elements of conjugation, form and function, they are on their way to mastering English Grammar. Present Progressive is easier to learn than Present Perfect, which is why I have used it for the examples. The function of Present Perfect is a little bit harder to learn, however the basics of it are virtually the same.