Practice Makes Perfect: Exploring Grammar - Muschla Gary Robert 2010
Earthquakes
Rules for Forming the Tenses of Verbs
Verbs
The forms of most verbs change when their tense changes.
Present Tense
Follow these rules when the subject is a singular noun.
✵ To form the present tense of many verbs, add -s.
talk—talks
call—calls
climb—climbs
✵ To form the present tense of verbs ending in -s, -ch, -sh, -x, and -z, add -es.
guess—guesses
fix—fixes
catch—catches
buzz—buzzes
push—pushes
✵ To form the present tense of verbs ending in a consonant and -y, change the -y to -i and add -es.
try—tries
hurry—hurries
carry—carries
Past Tense
✵ To form the past tense of most verbs, add -ed. For verbs ending with -e, add -d.
walk—walked
jump—jumped
hike—hiked
✵ To form the past tense of verbs ending with a consonant and -y, change the -y to -i and add -ed.
try—tried
hurry—hurried
carry—carried
✵ To form the past tense of verbs ending with a single vowel and a consonant, double the final consonant and add -ed.
stop—stopped
slip—slipped
wrap—wrapped
3.15 Earthquakes
An earthquake is a violent shaking of the earth. Most earthquakes are caused by the movement of rocks far underground. What is a person who studies earthquakes called?
To answer the question, read each sentence below. Decide if the underlined verb is in the past, the present, or the future tense. Write the letter of each answer in the space above its sentence number at the bottom of the page.
1. Danielle will learn about earthquakes in science.
R. Past
K. Present
M. Future
2. She enjoys learning about the earth.
A. Past
E. Present
H. Future
3. She lives in California.
V. Past
L. Present
D. Future
4. Two years ago an earthquake occurred in her area.
T. Past
N. Present
L. Future
5. Fortunately, it caused only a little damage.
G. Past
L. Present
N. Future
6. Danielle plans to be a scientist someday.
L. Past
I. Present
J. Future
7. She will go to college to study earthquakes.
Y. Past
S. Present
O. Future
8. She hopes to learn more about earthquakes.
O. Past
S. Present
E. Future
