IXL | Is the sentence in the past, present, or future tense?

Which tense does the sentence use?

The woman hammers the nails.

past tense

present tense

future tense

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question

Which tense does the sentence use?

Ice melts in the bright sun.

past tense

present tense

future tense

key idea

Present tense verbs tell you about something that is happening now.

Most present-tense verbs are regular. They have no ending, or they end in -s or -es.

Two verbs are irregular in the present tense, to be and to have. You must remember their forms.

Past tense verbs tell you about something that has already happened.

Most past-tense verbs are regular. They end in -ed.

Some verbs are irregular in the past tense. You must remember their past-tense forms.

Future tense verbs tell you about something that is going to happen.

All future-tense verbs use the word will.

Present	Past	Future
walk, walks	walked	will walk
go, goes	went	will go

solution

The sentence is in present tense. You can tell because it uses a present-tense verb, melts. The verb ends in -s and tells you about something that is true or happening now.

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Teacher tools

Work it out

Not feeling ready yet? These can help:

AAA.4Place sentences on a timeline

AAA.17Place sentences with irregular verbs on a timeline

UU.4Identify the irregular past tense I

UU.5Identify the irregular past tense II

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