Activities on Tenses – JSS1 English Lesson Note (Second Term)

A tense shows the time of an action: past, present or future. A verb must also agree with its subject, so a singular subject takes a singular verb and a plural subject takes a plural verb. This lesson revises seven tenses and the rules of agreement, then gives practice in using them.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• choose the correct form of a verb to complete a sentence;
• make the verb agree with its subject, including subjects joined by “and”, “together with” and “neither … nor”;
• write correct sentences in the present, present continuous, present perfect, present perfect continuous, past, past continuous and past perfect continuous tenses.

What are the forms of the tenses?

How does a verb agree with its subject?

• A singular subject takes a singular verb. In the simple present, the verb ends in -s or -es: “Ada reads her notes every evening.”
• Subjects joined by “and” are plural and take a plural verb: “Kemi and her brothers play football.”
• When “together with”, “as well as” or “with” joins two subjects, the verb agrees with the first subject only: “The captain, together with the players, trains every morning.”
• With “neither … nor”, the verb agrees with the subject nearer to it: “Neither the teacher nor the pupils are late.”
• Repeating “my” or “the” shows that two people are meant: “My uncle and my neighbour live in Ibadan.” If “and” joins two names for one person, the verb is singular: “The cook and caterer, Mrs Bello, lives in Kano.”

Choosing the right form of “do” and “have”

Use “does” and “has” with he, she, it and singular nouns. Use “do” and “have” with I, you, we, they and plural nouns. Use “has” or “have” with the past participle, for example “has eaten”, “have gone”.

Evaluation

Fill in each blank space with the correct form of the verb in brackets. Use the simple present tense for items 2 to 6. Items 1 and 7 need the past participle.

1. Amadi has never ____ late to service. (come)
2. His mother, together with his sisters, ____ in the bakery every day. (work)
3. Clement and his friends always ____ games. (like)
4. He ____ a lot of reading every day. (do)
5. Neither sports nor academic studies ____ easy for him now. (be)
6. My friend and my confidant ____ in Lagos now. (live)
7. The board of governors has ____ . (meet)

Answer key for teachers

1. come (past participle after “has never”)
2. works (the first subject, “mother”, is singular)
3. like (plural subject)
4. does (singular subject “he”)
5. are (the nearer subject, “studies”, is plural)
6. live (two people, shown by the repeated “my”)
7. met (past participle after “has”)

Assignment

Write five sentences on each of the following tenses:

1. Present tense
2. Present continuous tense
3. Present perfect tense
4. Present perfect continuous tense
5. Past tense
6. Past continuous tense
7. Past perfect continuous tense

Teachers can mark each sentence against the forms in the table above.