First Grammar Lessons: Part II, Lesson I

Lesson I

The orange is nice.
The orange was nice.

Is and was, you know, are both words of the verb Be. If you use the sentence with is, you speak of eating the orange now. If you say was, you speak of having eaten it at some time past.

The verb alone shows this difference in time; none of the other words change. You may always tell, by looking at the verb, whether a thing happens at this moment, or whether it is finished and done, or whether it is going to be done at some future time.

Now, this moment, we call the present time.

The minute that has just gone, and yesterday, is past time.

In a minute, and to-morrow, is future time,—time yet to come.

Verbs show these three times, so we say they have three tenses.

Tense is the Latin word for time.

To be learnt.

Verbs have three tenses—present, past and future.

Exercise I

1. Make six sentences, giving the verb the present tense or time.

2. Make six sentences with the verb in the past time.

3. Make six sentences with the verb in the future.

4. In the following sentences say to which time the verb belongs:

Baby is eating her dinner.
The dog barked this morning.
Henry will go to school next week.