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Year 7 English — Tense in stories and in reports

Choose the tense a piece of writing needs — the past for a story or a report, the present for instructions and general facts, and the past perfect for what happened earlier still.

Name: ________________________

  1. 1.Which sentence states a general fact rather than a single event that happened once?

    • a) The ice was melting when we arrived.
    • b) Ice melts in the sun.
    • c) The ice had melted before we arrived.
    • d) The ice in the bucket melted by noon.

  2. 2.Put the steps of turning a page of notes into a finished story in the right order.

    • First, decide which tense the whole piece needs — a story takes the past.
    • Last, read the piece back and check that no verb has slipped into the present.
    • Then use the past perfect for anything that had happened earlier still.
    • Next, put every main event into the simple past.

  3. 3.A radio commentator is describing a match as it happens. Which sentence fits?

    • a) Sharma passed the ball to Khan.
    • b) Sharma will pass the ball to Khan.
    • c) Sharma had passed the ball to Khan.
    • d) Sharma passes the ball to Khan.

  4. 4.Write one word: A story about events that are over and done with is normally written in the ____ tense.

  5. 5.Sort each verb by its tense.

    Groups: Simple past · Past perfect

    • walked
    • had written
    • had seen
    • saw
    • wrote
    • had walked

  6. 6.Which sentence describes how something works, rather than something that happened once?

    • a) The pump filled the tank in ten minutes.
    • b) The pump pushes air down the tube and into the tyre.
    • c) The pump was repaired on Tuesday.
    • d) The pump had stopped working by then.

  7. 7.Sort each piece of writing by the tense it is normally written in.

    Groups: Past tense · Present tense

    • A description of how a bicycle pump works
    • A fact about how bees make honey
    • A recipe for lemon rice
    • A diary entry about what happened at school today
    • A newspaper report of yesterday's match
    • A story about a journey you made last year

  8. 8.Match each kind of writing to the tense it usually uses.

    • A folk tale
    • A recipe
    • Describing what is happening around you at this moment
    • A statement of a scientific fact
    • An account of what happened before the story began
    • Simple past
    • Past perfect
    • Present simple
    • Present imperative
    • Present continuous

Answer key — Year 7 English — Tense in stories and in reports

  1. 1. b) Ice melts in the sun.
  2. 2. 1. First, decide which tense the whole piece needs — a story takes the past. 2. Next, put every main event into the simple past. 3. Then use the past perfect for anything that had happened earlier still. 4. Last, read the piece back and check that no verb has slipped into the present.
  3. 3. d) Sharma passes the ball to Khan.
  4. 4. past
  5. 5. walked → Simple past; had walked → Past perfect; saw → Simple past; had seen → Past perfect; wrote → Simple past; had written → Past perfect
  6. 6. b) The pump pushes air down the tube and into the tyre.
  7. 7. A story about a journey you made last year → Past tense; A recipe for lemon rice → Present tense; A newspaper report of yesterday's match → Past tense; A description of how a bicycle pump works → Present tense; A diary entry about what happened at school today → Past tense; A fact about how bees make honey → Present tense
  8. 8. A folk tale → Simple past; A recipe → Present imperative; Describing what is happening around you at this moment → Present continuous; A statement of a scientific fact → Present simple; An account of what happened before the story began → Past perfect