Standard 5: Language

Students will apply knowledge of grammar and rhetorical style to reading and writing. 

5.5.W.5 Students will recognize and correct inappropriate shifts in verb tense.

Student Actions 

Teacher Actions 

• Students recognize an inappropriate verb tense shift (.e.g. Yesterday I made a pizza, and it tastes good).  (made is in past tense; tastes is in present tense).
• Students edit and revise inappropriate changes in verb tense.
• Students identify verbs in their writing (highlight or underline) and evaluate their tense.  If the verb tenses shift, students determine which verb tense makes the most sense in the story and make appropriate changes.

• Teachers explain how to recognize an inappropriate verb tense shift (e.g. Yesterday I made a pizza, and it tastes good).  (made is in past tense; tastes is in present tense).
• Teachers model and use think aloud technique to demonstrate how to identify shifts in tense.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to recognize an inappropriate verb tense shift (e.g. Yesterday I made a pizza, and it tastes good).
• Teachers provide feedback to students when they recognize an inappropriate verb tense shift.
• It can be effective to place a small dot/mark in the margin of lines that students should review during writing conferences.
• Teachers model and use think aloud technique to edit and revise inappropriate changes in verb tense.
• Teachers provide opportunities for students to edit and revise inappropriate changes in verb tense.
• Teachers provide feedback to students when editing and revising inappropriate changes in verb tense.
• It can be effective to place a small dot/mark in the margin of lines that students should review during writing conferences.

Supporting Resources 

Teacher Insights 

• For extra practice click Correcting Shifts in Verb Tense (webpage)
• Shifts in Verb Tense (webpage)
• Khan Academy Verb Tense Shifts (video)
• Grammar Companion Guide, pg 92 (pdf)
• Verb Tenses in Text (webpage)
• Support Documents pgs. 16-18 
• Verb Tense to Signify Time (video)
• School House Rocks:  Verbs (video)
• Identifying and Classifying Verbs in Context (webpage)  
• When I Was Young In...A Literature to Language Experience (webpage)
• Action ABC's: Learning Vocabulary With Verbs (webpage) 
• Dynamite Diamante Poetry (webpage)
• More than One Way to Create Vivid Verbs (webpage)
• Composing Cinquain Poems with Basic Parts of Speech (webpage)  

• Verb Tense is determined by when the action took place. Verbs can be past, present, or future tense, signifying the time that something happens.

• Past tense: I walked to work.

• Present tense: I walk to work.

• Future tense: I will walk to work.

• Inappropriate shifts in verb tense occur when a writer unintentionally switches the tense of a verb.

• There are occasions when this can and should be done; however, it should always be done with intentionality.

• It is appropriate to shift verb tenses in dialogue or quotations.

• A common mistake in writing is to change or shift verb tense in the middle of a sentence, paragraph, essay, or story. This can be confusing to the reader.

Due to recursive nature of the standards, it is essential that teachers are aware of how all objectives within and between strands work together for optimal instruction.