Simple and progressive tense revision | English | Quizalize & Oak National Academy

Starter quiz

Which of these are subordinate clauses?
- whose face was covered in bites ✓
- he was in a great deal of pain
- after he had trudged off into the jungle ✓
- gripping tightly to his trusty walking stick ✓
Which words in this complex sentence are subordinating conjunctions? 'As the fog cleared, we gasped in astonishment because we saw we were in a beautiful place.'
- as ✓
- in
- because ✓
- were
Which of these complex sentences need a comma after a fronted adverbial clause?
- We all cheered when we won the competition.
- When we won the competition we all cheered. ✓
- Once it was all over we felt ready to collapse. ✓
- We felt ready to collapse once it was all over.
Match the type of word to the type of subordinate clause it starts.
- subordinating conjunction
  
  ⇔
  
  adverbial clause ✓
- relative pronoun
  
  ⇔
  
  relative clause ✓
- -ing form of verb
  
  ⇔
  
  non-finite (-ing) clause ✓
Which of these sentences contain a relative clause?
- The woman that I knew was no longer there. ✓
- We all knew that it was wrong.
- I was shocked when it happened.
- The moment when he fell over was hilarious. ✓
What are the subordinate clauses in this sentence? 'Before I realised what was happening, she had jumped up on her chair, which was tilting dangerously.'
- before I realised what was happening ✓
- she had jumped up on her chair
- which was tilting dangerously ✓

Tick the sentence that's written in Standard English.
- He were my only friend.
- He ain't even listening.
- He's been here before. ✓
- We was the only ones left.
Which sentence is written in the simple past tense?
- He had a headache. ✓
- He has a headache.
- He is having a headache.
- He was having a headache.
What is the simple past tense version of this sentence? 'She takes me to practice every Monday.'
- She is taking me to practice every Monday.
- She took me to practice every Monday. ✓
- She was taking me to practice every Monday.
- She will take me to practice every Monday.
Which of these sentences are in a progressive tense?
- We were waiting for the movie to end. ✓
- The movie ended early.
- She is interfering with our project. ✓
- She interferes with all our work.
Which sentence is in the past progressive tense?
- The committee is meeting in the village hall.
- The committee will be meeting in the village hall.
- The committee was meeting in the village hall. ✓
Which verb form completes this sentence in the progressive present tense? 'When she _________ her book, we have to be very quiet.'
- was writing
- is writing ✓
- will be writing
- wrote

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The verb carries the tense of a clause.
The simple tense does not make use of an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verb except in the future tense.
The progressive tense denotes ongoing action and uses auxiliary verbs based on 'to be'.
Standard English is often used in writing and uses different verb forms to non-Standard English.

Pupils may believe that all verbs in a sentence are always kept in the same tense.

Constantly encourage children to think about what 'sounds right' in a sentence and to try out different verb forms orally to see what works.

Simple tense - a tense that does not make use of an auxiliary verb in addition to the main verb except in the future tense
Auxiliary verb - the helping verb that is always paired with the main verb
Progressive tense - a tense that denotes ongoing action and uses an auxiliary verb based on 'to be'
Tense - tells the reader when something happens
Standard english - the formal form of language that we often use when writing