Verbs, continued
PAST TENSE VERBSEXAMPLES
The past tense of a verb tells about an action that happened earlier, or in the past.Yesterday, my mom warned everyone about the hurricane.
The storm moved over the ocean toward land.
We did not know exactly when it would hit.
The past tense form of a regular verb ends with -ed.The shop owners in our town covered their windows with wood.
We closed our shutters and stayed inside.
Irregular verbs have special forms to show the past tense. See page 339 for more examples.The storm hit land.
The sky grew very dark.
It began to rain.
Some Irregular Verbs
Present TensePast Tense
hithit
growgrew
beginbegan
FUTURE TENSE VERBSEXAMPLES
The future tense of a verb tells about an action that will happen later, or in the future.
To show future tense, use one of the following:
• will plus another verbAfter the storm, people will come out of their houses.
They will inspect the damage.
• a contraction with will plus another verbThey’ll uncover their windows.
They’ll clean up their yards.
Some people won’t have as much work as other people.
Contractions with will
I + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= I’ll
you + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= you’ll
he + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= he’ll
she + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= she’ll
it + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= it’ll
we + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= we’ll
they + Illustration of the letters “wi” crossed out in “will”= they’ll
will + not = won’t
• the phrase am going to, is going to, or are going to plus a verb.I am going to take the tree branches out of my yard.
The city is not going to clean every street.
We are all going to help each other.