Make verbs agree and time clear

Short lesson

The subject and verb must agree in Standard English: “The child is ready”; “The children are ready.” A phrase between them does not change the subject: “The box of marbles is heavy.” The head noun is box, not marbles.

Keep time clear. The simple past can tell a completed event: “I opened the gate.” The past progressive shows an action in progress: “I was opening the gate.” The present perfect uses has/have plus a past participle: “I have opened the gate.” The past perfect can locate an event before another past event: “I had opened it before the bell rang.”

Tense changes are useful when time changes; they are errors when they accidentally confuse the sequence. English expresses future time in several ways, including will and going to; there is no special future verb ending to memorise.

Modal verbs such as might, could, should and must can express possibility, ability or obligation. They change the strength of a statement.

Year 6 extension: in the active voice the subject performs the action: “The caretaker locked the gate.” In the passive it receives the action: “The gate was locked by the caretaker.” Passive voice is a choice of focus, not automatically better writing. Formal hypothetical language can use “If I were…” for an imagined situation.

Worked example

“The bag of apples were on the bench.” Find the subject head: bag. It is singular, so change were → was. Do not choose the verb by the nearest noun. “The apples in the bag were fresh” has a different head, apples.

Try it

Have a go on paper or say your answer aloud, then open the answer.

1. Foundation

   Choose is or are: “The collection of stamps ___ valuable.” Explain your choice.

   Show answer 1

   Is. The singular head of the subject is collection. The plural stamps occurs in a modifying phrase and does not control agreement.

2. Core

   Keep this account in the past: “Yesterday, Theo opened the cupboard and finds a torch.” Change only the verb that needs correction.

   Show answer 2

   Finds → found. “Yesterday, Theo opened the cupboard and found a torch.” Both actions now share a consistent past-time account. No need to change opened.

3. Core

   Which form makes the earlier action clear? “By the time the coach arrived, we ___ our bags.” Choose had packed / are packing / pack and explain.

   Show answer 3

   Had packed. The past perfect makes clear that packing was completed before the coach's arrival. The other offered forms do not fit that completed earlier event in this sentence.

4. Core

   How does the meaning change between “The path might be slippery” and “The path must be slippery”? Discuss what the speaker expresses; do not assume either sentence proves the path's real condition.

   Show answer 4

   Might presents slipperiness as possible. In this context must presents a strong inference or conviction about the path. It is not an obligation imposed on the path. Neither sentence by itself independently establishes the actual condition; we are examining the speaker's claim.

5. Year 6 extension

   Rewrite “The volunteers painted the fence” in the passive without changing the tense or losing who did it. Then choose the formal hypothetical form: “If I ___ the captain, I would listen to everyone” (was / were).

   Show answer 5

   “The fence was painted by the volunteers.” Was painted preserves the simple past in the passive; the by phrase preserves who did it. Were gives “If I were the captain…” in the requested formal hypothetical construction. Discuss informal variation without labelling a child's home dialect as deficient.