Year 4 · SPaG · Verb tenses
Year 4 past tense worksheet and PowerPoint
To recognise and use the simple past and the past progressive.
The past tense
The simple past tells you something finished: the baker carried a bag. The past progressive (was or were + the -ing form) tells you it was going on: the baker was carrying a bag. Some verbs are irregular: run → ran, buy → bought.
| simple past | I walked to school. She ran home. |
|---|---|
| past progressive | I was walking to school. They were running. |
| irregular | go → went, see → saw, eat → ate, take → took |
Examples
- The farmer opened the gate.
- The farmer was opening the gate.
Key words
- tense
- the form of a verb that shows when something happens
- progressive
- the -ing form, for something going on
- perfect
- has or have with a past participle
- past participle
- the verb form used after has and have
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 yesterday. Use the simple past three times and the past progressive three times.
Pupil target: I can use the simple past and past progressive.
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 tense PowerPoint.
Where this lesson fits
This is lesson 19 of 60 in the Year 4 SPaG scheme, in the block “Verb tenses”.
Other lessons in this block
This site is not affiliated with, or endorsed by, the Standards and Testing Agency or the Department for Education.