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Year 5 - English

Writing sentences in the progressive present, past and future tense

Three tense forms and modal verbs

Unit Summary

In this unit, pupils review the rules for the simple and progressive present, past and future tenses as well as the perfect present tense. They learn about modal verbs for the first time, learning that they can be useful for applying to speech sentences, persuasive writing and rhetorical questions.

Lesson Summary

You will learn to write a range of sentence types in the progressive present, past or future tense.

Key Notes

  • The verb carries the tense of a sentence.
  • The progressive tense can denote present, past or future action.
  • The progressive tense is a tense that makes use of an auxiliary verb from the infinitive 'to be' with the main verb.
  • The progressive tense denotes ongoing action.
  • The main verb in the progressive tense always ends with the -ing suffix.

Vocabulary To Learn

  • verb: a doing, being or having word
  • progressive tense: a tense that denotes ongoing action
  • auxiliary verb: the helping verb that is always paired with the main verb
  • infinitive: any verb preceded by the word 'to'
  • suffix: a letter or group of letters at the end of a word which creates another word

Common Mistakes To Avoid

  • Pupils may struggle to spot progressive tenses in negative forms like 'won't be waiting'.

3 Quick Questions (With Answers)

1. Explain this English learning goal in two key points.

The verb carries the tense of a sentence. The progressive tense can denote present, past or future action.

2. Define this language term and use it in a sentence. 'verb'

a doing, being or having word.

3. Correct this common English misunderstanding.

Mistake: Pupils may struggle to spot progressive tenses in negative forms like 'won't be waiting'. Correction: Highlight that we still have an auxiliary verb and an -ing verb even when a negative interrupts like in 'were not watching/aren't looking'.

More Lessons In This Unit

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