Year 6 SATs Practice - SPaG questions - Tenses

At the end of Key Stage 2, children in Year 6 complete the English grammar, punctuation and spelling test (GPS). Are your pupils ready?

This Year 6 SPaG Questions pack will support the practise of test style questions that pupils will face in paper 1 of the end of Key Stage 2 English Grammar, Punctuation and Spelling test.

These resources can be used alongside our Year 6 Revision Blaster worksheets to support revision in your classroom, in this case, of tenses.

All our SPAG Questions and Revision Blaster resource packs focus on the content domains from the Key Stage 2 grammar, punctuation and spelling test framework (National Curriculum tests from 2016).

Content domains covered in this resource:

• G4.1a simple past and simple present
• G4.1b verbs in the perfect form
• G4.1d present and past progressive
• G4.2 tense consistency

This pack includes:

• SPaG Questions PPT slides: tenses
• Let’s Practise! 1 and 2 PDF worksheets, (also shown on PPT slides 5 and 6)

What are tenses?

The tense shows when the actions happen in a sentence. The verb shows whether the sentence is written in the present tense (happens now), the past tense (happened in the past) or the future tense (will happen at some point). The verb forms that show tense can be in their simple, progressive, perfect or perfect progressive forms.

What is the simple tense?

The simple present tense states things that are true now or things that happen often or regularly in the current period and is formed by adding -s to the verb or using the root form of the verb (infinitive).

The simple past tense is used to show when something happened in the past at an earlier time and is created by adding the suffix -ed to most verbs (the infinite), although there are some verbs that are irregular (e.g. teach / taught or fly/flew).

• He jumps. (simple present tense)
• He jumped. (simple past tense)

What is the progressive (continuous) tense?

The present progressive tense is used to show something happening in that precise moment and will continue for a longer period of time. It is formed using the verbs is/are/am and the verb ending in the suffix -ing (present participle).

The past progressive tense is used to show something was not finished before something else happened or for something that continued for some time. It is formed using the verbs was / were and the verb ending in the suffix -ing (present participle).

• He is jumping. (present progressive tense)
• He was jumping. (past progressive tense)

What is the perfect tense?

The present perfect tense is used when something has happened and is still relevant now or when something began happening in the past and continues to happen now. It is formed using has / have and the past tense form of the verb (past participle).

The past perfect tense is used to show something that happened before something else or for something that started happening in the past and was still happening at a later time. It is formed using had and the past tense form of the verb (past participle).

• He has jumped. (present perfect tense)
• He had jumped. (past perfect tense)

What is the perfect progressive tense?

The present perfect progressive tense is used for something that started happening in the past and is still happening now. It is formed using have / has + been and the verb ending in the suffix -ing.

The past perfect progressive tense is used when something started happening in the past and was still happening at a later time. It is formed using had + been and the verb ending in the suffix -ing.

• He has been jumping. (present perfect progressive tense)
• He had been jumping. (past perfect progressive tense)

This resource is part of the KS2 SATs Support collection.
View more from this collection

• SPaG Questions PPT slides: tenses
• Let’s Practise! 1 and 2 PDF worksheets, (also shown on PPT slides 5 and 6)
• Teacher notes