Verb Tenses and Agreement

Verb tenses tell the reader when something happens — in the past, the present, or the future. Subject-verb agreement means making sure the verb matches its subject. Both of these are tested throughout the CSSE 11+ English paper. Mistakes with tense and agreement can make your writing confusing and will cost you marks in both the comprehension and creative writing sections.

---

What Are Verb Tenses?

A tense tells you when an action takes place. There are three main time frames:

Time frame	Example
Past	She walked to school.
Present	She walks to school.
Future	She will walk to school.

Within each time frame, there are different forms that give more detail about the action.

---

Past Tenses

Simple past

Used for actions that are finished: "I played football yesterday."

Most verbs form the simple past by adding -ed: walk/walked, jump/jumped, climb/climbed.

But many common verbs are irregular and do not follow this pattern:

Present	Simple past
go	went
see	saw
eat	ate
run	ran
take	took
write	wrote
begin	began
swim	swam
break	broke
give	gave

Past progressive (continuous)

Used for actions that were ongoing in the past: "I was playing football when it started to rain."

Formed with was/were + -ing: "She was reading." "They were running."

Past perfect

Used for actions completed before another past action: "By the time we arrived, the film had started."

Formed with had + past participle: "She had finished her homework before dinner."

---

Present Tenses

Simple present

Used for facts, habits, and things that are generally true: "The sun rises in the east." "I read every evening."

Present progressive (continuous)

Used for actions happening right now: "I am reading a book." "They are playing in the garden."

Formed with am/is/are + -ing.

Present perfect

Used for actions that started in the past and continue to the present, or that happened at an unspecified time: "I have visited France." "She has lived here for five years."

Formed with have/has + past participle.

---

Future Tenses

Simple future

Used for actions that will happen: "I will go to the cinema tomorrow."

Formed with will + base verb.

Future with "going to"

Used for planned actions: "I am going to visit my grandparents this weekend."

---

Subject-Verb Agreement

The verb must agree with its subject in number (singular or plural).

Subject	Verb	Example
I	am / was / have	I am happy.
He / she / it	is / was / has	She is tall. The dog has a bone.
We / they / you	are / were / have	They are coming. We were late.

Common Agreement Traps

These are the mistakes the CSSE examiners will look for: