Tenses=Headache? (part 1)

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It is very common to find confused students when it comes to tenses. I mean...when I mention about tenses, it seems like all types of tenses come rushing into these students' minds at the same time. They usually know about the addition of 'ed' at the end of verbs in the simple past tense case, but often than not they are confused about the addition of 's' in the simple present tense (singular...plural...noun...verb...arghh!).

Apart from that, they are also not very sure about when or where to use which tense while speaking or writing. Struggling, they will usually mix all the tenses, making their speech or writing full with grammatical errors.

PRESENT TENSE

Noun

singular noun(-s)
eg: boy

plural noun(+s)
eg: boys

Verb

singular verb(+s)
eg: plays

plural verb(-s)
eg: play

The Sentence

singular noun + singular verb
The [boy] [plays] football.

plural noun + plural verb
The [boys] [play] football.

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