Year 3 · SPaG · Verb tenses
Year 3 past and present tense (2) worksheet and PowerPoint
To recognise and use the present progressive and the past progressive.
The progressive form
The progressive form shows that something is or was going on. It uses is, am, are (present) or was, were (past) and a verb ending in -ing.
| present progressive | I am walking. She is walking. They are walking. |
|---|---|
| past progressive | I was walking. They were walking. |
| compare | She walks to school. She is walking to school now. |
Examples
- The baker is carrying a bag.
- The baker was carrying a bag.
Key words
- progressive
- the -ing form, for something that is or was going on
- tense
- the form of a verb that shows when something happens
- past
- already happened
- present
- happening now or happens often
What is on the worksheet
Every sheet for this lesson has a short teaching box and 12 questions that get gradually harder: 8 fluency questions, then 4 reasoning questions that ask pupils to explain or choose. A writing challenge follows. The questions use the same styles as the key stage 2 grammar and punctuation test (circle, underline, tick, fill the gap, add punctuation, rewrite, explain). They are written for this website, not copied from past papers.
All the answers are on the last page of the same editable Word file. New questions are made every time, so you can print a different sheet for every group or for homework. The same sheet code always gives the same sheet.
Writing challenge: Write six sentences about what is happening in your classroom now and what was happening at break time.
Pupil target: I can use the progressive form.
The PowerPoint
A 20-slide lesson deck for the same lesson: a starter that revisits earlier learning, key words, an I do and a You do question on each slide with a countdown timer, answers that appear one click at a time, and a challenge. Download the past and present tense (2) PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 8 of 53 in the Year 3 SPaG scheme, in the block “Verb tenses”.
Other lessons in this block
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