Tenses and subject-verb agreement
Class 6 English · Grammar · 25 questions with answers
Class 6 adds the continuous and perfect forms to the three basic tenses, and starts marking subject-verb agreement strictly. Most errors are with collective nouns and with a phrase sitting between the subject and the verb.
- Uses simple, continuous and perfect forms correctly
- Makes the verb agree with the subject even when words come between them
- Keeps one tense through a paragraph
Exercise 1 of 3 · 12 questions
Fill in the correct form of the verb in brackets.
Fill in the blank · Warm-up
Here’s one done for you
She ______ (write) a letter when the phone rang. → was writing. Two things happened: one was going on, the other interrupted it. The one going on takes the continuous form. Look for the time clue in every sentence - when, since, by the time, every Sunday - because it chooses the tense before you think about the verb at all.
- 1)She ______ (write) a letter when the phone rang.
- 2)They ______ (finish) their homework before dinner yesterday.
- 3)I ______ (live) in Pune since 2019.
- 4)By the time we arrived, the film ______ (start).
- 5)Look! The baby ______ (sleep).
- 6)He ______ (visit) his grandmother every Sunday.
- 7)We ______ (wait) for an hour before the bus came.
- 8)She ______ (not finish) her project yet.
- 9)The train ______ (leave) at six tomorrow morning.
- 10)While I ______ (read), the lights went out.
- 11)They ______ (know) each other since childhood.
- 12)By next June he ______ (complete) five years here.
Answers
- 1) was writing
- 2) had finished
- 3) have lived
- 4) had started
- 5) is sleeping
- 6) visits
- 7) had waited (or had been waiting)
- 8) has not finished
- 9) leaves
- 10) was reading
- 11) have known
- 12) will have completed
Exercise 2 of 3 · 12 questions
Choose the correct verb.
Fill in the blank · Guided
Here’s one done for you
The box of books ______ heavy. → is. The subject is 'the box', not 'books' - the phrase 'of books' sits in between and pulls the ear towards the plural. Cover the middle phrase with a finger and the right answer becomes obvious. This is the single most common agreement error in Class 6.
- 1)The box of books ______ (is / are) heavy.
- 2)Neither of the answers ______ (is / are) correct.
- 3)The team ______ (has / have) won the match.
- 4)One of my friends ______ (live / lives) in Delhi.
- 5)The children ______ (was / were) playing outside.
- 6)Mathematics ______ (is / are) my favourite subject.
- 7)Each of the students ______ (was / were) given a book.
- 8)The news ______ (is / are) good.
- 9)Ten kilometres ______ (is / are) a long way to walk.
- 10)My scissors ______ (is / are) blunt.
- 11)Everybody in the class ______ (know / knows) the answer.
- 12)A pair of shoes ______ (was / were) kept outside.
Answers
- 1) is
- 2) is
- 3) has
- 4) lives
- 5) were
- 6) is
- 7) was
- 8) is
- 9) is
- 10) are
- 11) knows
- 12) was
Exercise 3 of 3 · 1 questions
This paragraph drifts between tenses. Rewrite it consistently in the past.
Write the answer · Practice
Here’s one done for you
We arrive → We arrived. Then: is waiting → was waiting, takes → took, explains → explained, take → took, look → looked, leave → left, is → was. Note that 'were found' was already past and stays as it is - a child changing it too has stopped reading and started applying a rule.
- 1)We arrive at the museum at ten. The guide is waiting near the entrance and takes us to the first room. She explains how the fossils were found. Some of us take notes while others just look. We leave at one o'clock and everyone is tired but happy.
Answers
- 1) We arrived at the museum at ten. The guide was waiting near the entrance and took us to the first room. She explained how the fossils were found. Some of us took notes while others just looked. We left at one o'clock and everyone was tired but happy.
While your child works
- For agreement, cover the phrase between the subject and the verb with a finger. It fixes most errors instantly and needs no rule.
- Find the time clue first in tense questions - when, since, by the time, every Sunday. It chooses the tense before the verb is even considered.
- In the paragraph, one verb is already correct. A child who changes it has stopped reading and started applying a rule mechanically.