Simple Present and Past Tenses are the first verb forms of a beginning learner in English. Share on FB and redeem all worksheets or download a sample from www.languagelab.sg/books.

1. Languagelab 3.3
Master Simple Present and
Past Tenses

2. Introduction
Have you ever read fairy tales and story
books and see lots of words ending in:
-ed?

3. Simple Past Tense
A timeline shows us how tenses change. The
timeline below shows Past Tense as a
moment in the past.
Characterised by: 'ed' for past tenses
1) I received a phone call just now.
2) David kicked the ball into the drain during
physical exercise lesson.

4. Simple Past
It is used for an event that happened for a
single moment in the past.
The famous phrase, 'Once upon a time,...'
tells us that the story happened in the
past! So you can expect the lots of past
tenses (ending with -ed) used.
Further examples,
2) The kids enjoyed the outing at the zoo.
3) When I was a kid, I collected stamps.

5. Now all Past tenses end with 'ed'
Not all verbs take on 'ed' form when describing
the past.
These are called irregular verbs.
Words like go, swim, put, cut, hit and let are all
irregular verbs as their past tenses do not
have 'ed'.
They are uncommon, representing only 5% of
all English words.

6. Simple Present
Simple Present Tenses are used to describe
actions that are happening now.
Characterised by : 's' for singular nouns.
1) He likes to kick football. (singular verb for
singular noun - likes)
2) They like to kick football. (plural verb for
plural noun - like)

7. Tip for Simple Present Tense
When using Simple Present Tense to
describe something that is always true,
the subject does not take on 'the'.
Sports cars move very fast.
Children love toys.
These sentences are called Timeless
Statements. More examples:
3) Honesty is the best policy.
4) Playing with fire is dangerous.

8. Learning Activity
Use present or past tenses for these sentences.
Christmas ________ here. (is/was)
The tree ________ during the thunderstorm.
(fall/fell)
Lots of people ________ the Mass Rapid
Transit train to work. (take/took)
Fever usually ________ a viral infection.
(follows/followed)
The passengers ________ the bus during
morning rush hour. (fill/filled)

9. Learning Activity Answers
Christmas is here. (is/was)
The tree fell during the thunderstorm.
(fall/fell)
Lots of people take the Mass Rapid Transit
train to work. (take/took)
Fever usually follows a viral infection.
(follows/followed)
The passengers filled the bus during
morning rush hour. (fill/filled)

10. Learning Milestones
Why do verbs change their forms with an
'ed'?
What do verbs with Simple Present Tense
describe?

11. Learning Milestones Check
Verbs change their forms to show past
tenses with 'ed'.
Verbs with simple present tense show
timeless statements or actions happening
now.

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13. More on Master Simple Present &
Past Tenses
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