Quiz 38 · Verb Tense — The Talking Hands Series

First, the idea

Every verb tells when. In Ahmed bakes the rye, the baking happens now, or it happens regularly. In Ahmed baked the rye, the baking happened and is over. In Ahmed will bake the rye, the baking has not happened yet. The time a verb shows is called its tense. The three main tenses are past, present, and future.

A piece of writing does not choose its tense over again for every verb. It chooses once, near the start, and then it holds. A report about last night begins in the past: The delivery came late. A sign about the store's hours begins in the present: We open at six. A note about a coming change begins in the future: The new schedule will start on Monday. After the first sentence or two, the reader knows what time it is in the writing, and reads every verb after that at the same time.

The drawing above is a clock. It has two hands, a short one for the hour and a long one for the minutes. Together they show one time, and they hold that time until something moves them.

A piece of writing is a clock. Its first sentences set the hands: past, present, or future. Every verb after that keeps the time the hands show, unless the writer moves the hands for a reason the reader can see. A verb that jumps to another time with no reason is a clock whose hands slipped.

Here is a clock whose hands slipped. Read it aloud once.

Marisol mixed the rye at five, shaped the loaves at six, and slides them into the oven at seven.

The first two verbs, mixed and shaped, set the clock in the past. Then slides jumps to the present. Nothing in the sentence says the time changed. Five, six, and seven are hours of the same morning, and all of it is over. The hands slipped. One change repairs it: slides becomes slid.

Marisol mixed the rye at five, shaped the loaves at six, and slid them into the oven at seven.

So the first check is a question to ask of every verb: what time is it here? First find where the writing set its clock. Then read each verb and ask whether it shows the same time. If it does, go on. If it does not, look for the reason.

The hands may move. Good writers move them often, and the test expects them to, but only for a reason the reader can see. There are three common reasons.

The first reason is a time word. Words like now, today, next week, last year, and since 2019 tell the reader that the time has changed, so the verb changes with them.

Marisol worked nights for three years. Now she runs the morning shift.

Worked is past. Runs is present. The word now moves the hands, and the reader sees them move.

The second reason is a fact that is always true, or still true today. A report about last night is told in the past. But a fact that did not end last night stays in the present.

Ahmed learned on his first night that sourdough needs a long, slow rise.

Learned is past, because the learning happened on one night. Needs is present, because sourdough still needs a long rise, tonight and every night. Change needs to needed and the sentence is still grammatical, but now it sounds as if the rule held only on that one night. The test wants the version that keeps the meaning. Legal is not best.

The third reason is a turn from what happened to what will happen. A note can tell about yesterday and then look ahead.

The flour delivery came two hours late on Tuesday. From now on, the supplier will send it before midnight.

The first sentence is past. The second is future. The turn is plain, and the words from now on name it.

When the hands move for no reason, the reader stumbles, or gets the order of events wrong. When they move for a reason, the reader moves with them.

The second check is about the form of the verb itself. Most verbs make the past by adding -ed: bake, baked; mix, mixed; stop, stopped. These are called regular verbs. The -ed is easy to lose, because in speech it often runs into the next word. People say we're suppose to and I use to work nights, and the -ed disappears into the t of to. On paper it is written: supposed to, used to.

Some of the most common verbs do not add -ed. They are called irregular verbs, and their forms have to be learned. As Grammar: Start Here says, each one has three forms. The first is the present. The second is the past, used alone. The third is used only after a helping verb such as has, have, or had, and it is called the past participle. Here are some the test likes to use, in that order: present, past, third form.

freeze, froze, frozen · bring, brought, brought · begin, began, begun · take, took, taken · slide, slid, slid · write, wrote, written

Two mistakes come up again and again. The first gives an irregular verb the -ed ending: freezed, bringed. The second mixes up the second and third forms: has took instead of has taken, or Ahmed taken the trays out instead of Ahmed took the trays out. Remember it this way: the second form stands alone, and the third form needs a helping verb in front of it.

The water in the mop bucket froze overnight.

Froze stands alone, so it is the second form.

Ahmed has taken every flour delivery this week.

Taken comes after has, so it is the third form.

Sometimes a piece of writing tells about two things that both happened in the past, and one happened before the other. The earlier one can take had and the third form. Had moves the hands back a little further, to a time before the past the writing is already in.

When Marisol got to the bakery at five, Ahmed had already pulled the first rye out of the oven.

Got is past. Had pulled is earlier than that: by the time she arrived, the rye was out. Without had, the two events can sound as if they happened at the same moment. Use had only when the order matters, and only for the earlier of the two events. Not every past verb needs it.

Last, will and would. Both look forward. Will looks forward from now. Would looks forward from a moment in the past.

Ahmed knows that tonight will be a long shift.

On his first night, Ahmed knew that it would be a long shift.

In the first sentence, the clock is set to now, and will looks ahead from now. In the second, the clock is set to his first night, and would looks ahead from that night. When a sentence looks ahead from a moment in the past, as the second one does, will looks forward from the wrong place, and would is the word to use.

One more thing about time. When people tell a story out loud, many slip into the present on purpose: So last night I'm closing up, and this guy comes in and says... The story happened last night. The teller uses the present so the listener feels present too. In speech that is a skill, and good storytellers use it well. In a report, a letter, or a passage on the test, the clock holds still: what happened is told in the past. Neither way is wrong English; each fits its place. Quizzes 42 and 57 are where moving between the two becomes a named strength.

On the test, tense questions arrive as dropdowns inside workplace documents, often reports, memos, and letters that tell what happened. Find where the clock is set. Find the time words. Then ask of each choice: what time is it here, and if the hands moved, can the reader see why?

Worked example — thinking out loud

In Ahmed Diallo's second week as night baker, the walk-in stopped cooling. The walk-in is the bakery's big cold room, and its compressor, the motor that keeps it cold, had failed. Daniela, the assistant manager, wrote the report. Here are two lines from her first draft, before she checked her verbs.

Ahmed checked the thermometer on the door. It shows 46 degrees, and the walk-in is supposed to stay at 38 degrees or colder.

Read it aloud once. Where is the clock set? Checked: the past. That is right for a report on what happened last night. Now ask each verb: what time is it here? Shows is present. Did the time change? There is no time word, and the thermometer showed 46 degrees that night, not today. The hands slipped. Shows becomes showed.

The tempting path comes next. Having caught one slip, a careful writer sets every verb in the line to the past.

Ahmed checked the thermometer on the door. It showed 46 degrees, and the walk-in was supposed to stay at 38 degrees or colder.

Every verb now keeps the same time, and the line is grammatical. But read what it says. Was supposed to makes the rule sound like something from that one night, or something that no longer holds. The rule did not end last night. The walk-in is supposed to stay at 38 degrees or colder today, and tomorrow, and every day. That is a fact that is still true, one of the reasons the hands may move, so is stays.

Why the tempting path fails, in one sentence: keeping one time means keeping the time of the events, and a rule that is still true is not one of the events.

Ahmed checked the thermometer on the door. It showed 46 degrees, and the walk-in is supposed to stay at 38 degrees or colder.

Notice the -ed on supposed, too. In speech it disappears into the t of to. On paper it stays.

Here is the second line from the draft.

By the time I got there at 2:40, Ahmed takes everything off the top shelf.

Where is the clock set? Got: the past. Takes is present, with no time word and no fact that is still true. The hands slipped. The tempting repair is took: By the time I got there at 2:40, Ahmed took everything off the top shelf. Every verb is past now, and it reads nearly right. But by the time tells the reader that one thing was finished before another one happened. Took alone does not show that. It can sound as if he was taking things down as she walked in. The earlier of two past events takes had and the third form: take, took, taken.

By the time I got there at 2:40, Ahmed had taken everything off the top shelf.

What time is it here? Before 2:40, and had shows it. The clock holds, and the order of the night is clear.

☞ Behind you: Quiz 33 (run-ons and comma splices: when two clauses are joined, both verbs still keep the same time unless there is a reason to move the hands) and Quiz 37 (subject–verb agreement, which is mostly about the present tense, where the verb changes to match its subject). Ahead: Quiz 39 (pronouns, which have to agree in number too) and Quiz 47 (transitions, which carry time words like then, next, and afterward). In plain words first: Grammar: Start Here, Part 2.

Part B · The skill in the wild

Here is Daniela's finished report on the night the walk-in stopped cooling. Five decision points. At each dropdown, choose the version where every verb keeps the report's time, or moves the hands for a reason the reader can see. Decision point 4 offers two grammatical versions; choose the one that states the rule as still true today.

OKAFOR'S BAKERY — Incident Report

Incident: The walk-in stopped cooling

When: Wednesday night, about 2 a.m.

To: Mr. R. Okafor

From: Daniela Vega, Assistant Manager · written Thursday afternoon

The walk-in stopped cooling during Ahmed Diallo's shift on Wednesday night. This report tells what happened, what we did, and what comes next.

What happened. 1 [a. When Ahmed opened the walk-in at about 2 a.m., the air inside feels warm. / b. When Ahmed opened the walk-in at about 2 a.m., the air inside felt warm. / c. When Ahmed opened the walk-in at about 2 a.m., the air inside will feel warm.] He listened for the compressor and heard nothing. The compressor is the motor that keeps the walk-in cold. It had stopped running. 2 [a. The butter on the top shelf had began to soften before Ahmed noticed the warm air. / b. The butter on the top shelf has begun to soften before Ahmed noticed the warm air. / c. The butter on the top shelf had begun to soften before Ahmed noticed the warm air.] Ahmed called me at 2:10, and I got to the bakery at 2:40.

What we did. We moved the butter and the eggs into the refrigerator under the counter and into the catering coolers, packed with bagged ice from the deli on the corner, which is open all night. 3 [a. Ahmed writes the temperature in the log every half hour until the walk-in was empty. / b. Ahmed written the temperature in the log every half hour until the walk-in was empty. / c. Ahmed wrote the temperature in the log every half hour until the walk-in was empty.] We could not tell how long the milk and cream had been warm, so we threw out the cream and two cases of milk. 4 [a. Milk and cream are not safe to serve once they have spent more than four hours above 41 degrees. / b. Milk and cream were not safe to serve once they had spent more than four hours above 41 degrees. / c. Milk and cream will not be safe to serve once they spent more than four hours above 41 degrees.]

What comes next. I called an electrician this morning, as you asked. 5 [a. She came on Friday at 8 a.m. to find out why the compressor stopped. / b. She will come on Friday at 8 a.m. to find out why the compressor stopped. / c. She had come on Friday at 8 a.m. to find out why the compressor stopped.] Until the walk-in is repaired, the night baker will keep the dairy in the refrigerator under the counter.

Ahmed noticed the problem early and called right away. Because he did, we lost only the milk and the cream.

Daniela Vega
Assistant Manager

The key — and why the tempting answers tempt

Part A

1. A. Last winter is a finished time, so the past is right. Freeze is irregular: freeze, froze, frozen. The past used alone is froze. B tempts most, and for a good reason: adding -ed is the rule for most verbs. It is the right rule in the wrong place, because freeze is one of the verbs that does not follow it. C is the third form standing alone; it needs a helping verb in front of it, as in the pipes had frozen. D puts the second form after have, where the third form belongs, and have also reaches up to now, while last winter is over.

2. B. Two past events: Daniela found the flour, and before that, the driver left it. The earlier one takes had and the third form: had left. C tempts because has left sounds finished. But has reaches up to now, and this sentence is about Monday, already over; the helping verb is the wrong one. A is present, and the hands slipped. D is future, but Daniela had already found the flour, so the leaving cannot still be ahead.

3. C. Unlocked sets the clock in the past, and turned on keeps it there. Both things happened at six on the same morning, and both are over. A tempts because it sounds right aloud: turns on the lights is how people describe a routine. But the sentence is about one morning, already set in the past, and nothing moves the hands. The clock slipped. B is the same slip the other way around, present and then past. D jumps to the future, as if the lights were still waiting to be turned on, though both actions belong to six o'clock that morning.

4. D. The clock is set to last Tuesday, when Mr. Okafor spoke. From that Tuesday, Friday was still ahead, so the verb looks forward from a moment in the past: would arrive. B tempts because will arrive is what Mr. Okafor actually said that Tuesday, in his own words, and it is how many people retell it. But Daniela is writing on Monday, after the mixer came. Will looks forward from now, and from now that Friday is behind us. A is how a schedule is spoken aloud (the mixer arrives Friday), but it is present for something that is over. C reaches up to now and does not look forward at all.

5. A. The time changes from past to future, and the words next Sunday say so. The reader sees the hands move. B, C, and D all change time too, but the words that day keep everything on last Sunday, so none of the changes has a reason. B tempts because goes home at three sounds like the crew's usual habit, and it would be, without that day. C puts the present beside last Sunday. D sends the crew home in the future on a day that is already over.

6. D. The telling happened once, on Ahmed's first night, so told is past. But rye dough is still stickier than wheat dough, tonight and every night. A fact that is still true is a reason the reader can see for moving the hands to the present. Was is grammatical too; is is the one that keeps the meaning. Legal is not best. C tempts because it keeps the clock steady, which is exactly the habit this quiz builds. But it makes the fact sound as if it held only on that one night. B moves the hands back to a time before the telling, as if rye dough used to be stickier and has changed since. A jumps to the future with no reason.

Part B — the incident report

1. b. Opened sets the clock in the past, and felt keeps it there. Both happened at 2 a.m. on Wednesday night. Option a is the storyteller's present, the way Ahmed might tell it at the counter the next day: so I open the door, and the air feels warm. In speech that is a skill. In a report the clock holds still. Option c jumps to the future with no reason.

2. c. The butter began to soften before Ahmed noticed, the earlier of two past events. That takes had and the third form: begin, began, begun. Option a tempts because the time is right: had is in place. Only the form is wrong. Began is the second form, which stands alone; after had comes begun. Option b has the right form with the wrong helping verb: has reaches up to now, and the softening happened on Wednesday night.

3. c. Ahmed kept the log on Wednesday night, and the words until the walk-in was empty keep it there. The past used alone: wrote. Option a tempts because keeping a log sounds like a regular habit, the kind of thing a present verb describes. But this sentence is about one night, and its own second half is in the past; the hands slipped in the middle of the sentence. Option b is the third form standing alone, with no helping verb; it needs had or has in front of it.

4. a. This sentence gives the reason the milk and cream were thrown out: a food-safety rule that holds every night, not only on Wednesday. A fact that is still true is a reason to move the hands to the present. Option b is grammatical too; option a is the one that keeps the meaning. Legal is not best. Option b tempts because every verb around it is past, and it matches them. It keeps the clock steady, but it does the wrong job: it makes the rule sound like something that applied only that night. Option c starts in the future and ends in the past, inside one sentence, with no reason for either move.