HSPT: Verb forms: match the time and the form
Learn to choose verb forms that fit the time of a sentence: had for the earlier of two past actions, correct irregular forms, matching verbs in a series, and will in if-then results.
How do you pick the verb form that fits when a sentence talks about more than one time?
Short answer
Find the time clues, decide when each action happens, and choose the form that shows it. Use had plus a past participle for the earlier of two past actions, and use the standard irregular forms.
Know first: Present, past and future tense, Past participles such as eaten and gone
Step 1 of 5
Time clues tell you which form to use
Every verb places an action in time. Words like yesterday, every morning, by the time, before and tomorrow are time clues. The right verb is the one that fits those clues.
Wrong choices usually fail in one of two ways. Either the time is wrong, or the form isn't standard English, such as has went or growed.
| Form | When to use it | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Simple past | A finished action in the past | Last week Jun painted the gate. |
| Simple present | A habit or repeated action | Each night Jun reads and stretches. |
| Past perfect: had + participle | The earlier of two past actions | By the time we got home, the snow had stopped. |
| Present perfect: has or have + participle | A past action connected to now | Jun has painted three gates so far. |
| Future with will | The result of an if-clause about the future | If it snows tomorrow, the school will close. |
In an if-then sentence about the future, the if-clause stays in the present: If it snows, never If it will snow.
Step 2 of 5
Put two past actions in order
Worked example: Two events in the past
Choose the completion that fits the time relationship. When the bus finally came, we ___ in the rain for twenty minutes.
- Awaited
- Bhad waited
- Chave waited
- Dwill wait
- 1
Find the actions
Two things happened: the bus came, and we waited.
- 2
Decide which came first
The waiting happened before the bus came. It's the earlier of two past actions.
- 3
Use had plus the participle
The earlier past action takes had waited.
- 4
See why the others are there
Waited makes it sound as if the waiting began after the bus came. Have waited connects to the present, but the whole scene is over. Will wait points to the future.
Answer
had waited. The waiting came before the bus came, so it takes the past perfect.
Find the wrong step
A student completes this sentence: Every afternoon Tomas feeds the goats and ___ their water. (A) checked (B) checks (C) checking (D) has checked
- 1
Spots the time clue every afternoon, which shows a habit.
- 2
Notices that feeds is in the present tense.
- 3
Picks (A) checked, because the goats were fed earlier in the day.
What went wrong
Both verbs share the subject Tomas and describe the same habit. The second verb should match the first in tense.
The fix
Keep both verbs in the present: feeds and checks. The answer is (B) checks.
Step 3 of 5
Fix the time, then the form
Check yourself · Question 1
Choose the completion that fits the time relationship. Last winter the pond ___ solid by early December.
Answer: B
Last winter puts the action in the past, and the simple past of freeze is froze.
Check yourself · Question 2
Choose the completion that fits the time relationship. If the store restocks its shelves tonight, Mom ___ the paint in the morning.
Answer: B
The if-clause stays in the present (restocks), and the result is in the future, so it takes will buy.
Check yourself · Question 3
Which sentence uses verb forms correctly?
Answer: B
Lunch came before the game, so it takes the past perfect. After had, eat uses its participle, eaten.
Trap answer: Before the game started, Lucia had already ate her lunch.
Right tense, wrong form
- Why it looks right
- It uses had, which signals the earlier past action, so it looks like the choice that understands the timing.
- Why it's wrong
- Had must be followed by the past participle. Ate is the simple past.
- The right answer
- had already eaten, which gets both the timing and the form right.
Common mistake
Using the simple past for every past action.
- Why it's tempting
- The simple past is the form you use most, so it sounds fine even when a sentence has two past actions.
- Do this instead
- When a sentence has two past actions, ask which happened first. That one takes had plus the participle.
Step 4 of 5
What to remember
Remember
- Find the time clues first. Words like yesterday, by the time, every and if tell you which form fits.
- Use had plus the past participle for the earlier of two past actions.
- Irregular verbs have their own forms, such as froze and has frozen. Never add -ed to them or put the simple past after has or had.
Step 5 of 5
Practice on a real question
Use what you just learned on this question, then check the explanation.
In your own words
In the practice question, which two actions does the sentence describe, and which one happened first?