English Grammar & Punctuationusually ages 6–9

Past, Present and Progressive Tense

Use verbs to convey past and present tense correctly and consistently, including the progressive form (e.g., she is drumming, he was shouting), understanding how tense indicates time

How to tell they’ve got it

Tick these off as you see them — no test required.

Write a passage consistently in past tense without switching to present
Use progressive forms correctly: 'was running', 'is jumping' to show ongoing actions
Identify verbs in a sentence and change them from past to present tense or vice versa

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Try this together

If your child is writing about something that happened yesterday versus something happening right now, do they change the verb — for example, writing "she jumped" for the past and "she is jumping" for right now?

Where this sits on the map

Stuck here? Check the skills it builds on first. Confident? Here’s what it unlocks.

Builds on

Basic Nouns & Verbsages 5–6Must identify verbs before applying tense

Building sentencesages 4–6Sentence concept supports understanding how verbs function in sentences

Grammar Terms: Nouns, Verbs and Tenseages 6–7Progressive forms concept extends from earlier verb knowledge

Revising and editingages 6–7Progressive forms concept extends from earlier verb knowledge

Past, Present and Progressive Tensethis skill · ages 6–9

Unlocks

Irregular past tense verbsages 7–8Irregular past tense builds on understanding of regular past tense verb formation

The Present Perfect Tenseages 7–11Present perfect builds on Y2 verb tenses (past/present/progressive)

Simple Past, Present and Futureages 8–9Simple tenses including future extend past/present tense and progressive form knowledge

Standard English Verbsages 8–9Standard English verb inflections require understanding of past/present tense verb forms

Modal Verbs and Possibilityages 9–10Modal verbs express degrees of possibility and are understood within the broader framework of verb tense and aspect

Active and passive voiceages 10–11Passive voice requires understanding of verb tenses

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solid = must come firstdashed = helps

Curriculum alignment

Candidate matches to official curriculum codes — machine-suggested, unreviewed (v0.1).

Show candidate curriculum codes · 3 ACARA · 2 VIC

Australian Curriculum v9 candidate

AC9E3LA08medium confidenceYear 3 · Language

understand that verbs are anchored in time through tense

AC9E3LA07low confidenceYear 3 · Language

understand how verbs represent different processes for doing, feeling, thinking, saying and relating

AC9E4LA09low confidenceYear 4 · Language

understand past, present and future tenses and their impact on meaning in a sentence

Victorian Curriculum 2.0 codes & levels only

VC2E3LA08medium confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

VC2E3LA07low confidenceEnglish · Level 3 · Language strand

These are candidate alignments generated by semantic matching — machine-suggested and unreviewed (v0.1), not official or verified mappings. For official curriculum content see australiancurriculum.edu.au, curriculum.nsw.edu.au and f10.vcaa.vic.edu.au. Don’t rely on them for registration or compliance purposes.

Nearby on the map

Apostrophes: Contraction and Possessionages 6–7 Commas in listsages 6–11 Determiners and articlesages 6–7 Expanded noun phrasesages 6–7

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