Tricky Tenses Students Must Master: Part 2

Heads up! This week’s work is going to be intense. (hehe)

We are going to share with you again on several more tricky tenses that students stumble on. And
once again, we are also going to share with you on how to master them.

Let’s start off with an easy one.

1) Irregular Verbs
Most English verbs take -ed for the past tense or past participle. However, not all do. The problem
is that many verbs do not follow this rule. These verbs are known as irregular verbs.
We’ve also picked out some commonly-confused irregular verbs:

Present Past Past Participle

run ran run
come came come
become became become
show showed shown
cut cut cut
put put put
spread spread spread
lie (recline) lay lain
lay (put) laid laid
hang hung hung
beat beat beaten
bear bore borne
forsake forsook forsaken
strive strove striven
stride strode stridden
light lit (more common), lighted lighted
shine shone shine
wake woke woken
awake awoke awoken
Exam tip:
Unfortunately, there isn’t a better way to manage this other than to memorise the verb forms of
irregular verbs. For a more entertaining way of learning and memorising irregular verbs, you may
like to search up FluencyMC on YouTube and watch his Irregular Verb Rap Song Stick Stuck Stuck.

2) “Timeless” Verbs
It doesn’t mean that these verbs are not affected by the passage of time. What “timeless” means
here is that the tense of the verb is not affected by the tense of the other verbs in the same
sentence. This is because it is a fact, and facts are always expressed in the present tense.

“Timeless” verbs are used when we need to discuss a theory, an artistic work, or a general non-
historical fact.

e.g. WRONG: In 1632, Galileo proved that Earth revolved around the Sun.
CORRECT: In 1632, Galileo proved that Earth revolves around the Sun.

WRONG: Some ancient Greek philosophers believed that Earth was round.
CORRECT: Some ancient Greek philosophers believed that Earth is round.

Exam tip:
- Do not jump straight to identifying the tense of the sentence as past tense, before wrongly
choosing past tense as the answer.
- Always read and understand the sentence first. Then consider which tense makes sense for the
particular clause before choosing your answer.
3) Grammatical Moods and specifically, the Subjunctive Mood
There are 3 moods in English, but I’m not referring to whether English is happy, sad or troubled.
When we are talking about the grammatical kind of moods in English, we’re talking about verbs and
what they express.

Here are the 3 types of grammatical moods:

Explanation Example
Indicative stating facts and opinions -Cats are smarter than dogs.
-It is easier to train dogs than cats.
-Lee Kuan Yew was Singapore’s first Prime
Minister.

Imperative giving orders, instructions, -Do your work now.

suggestions. -Please move to the rear of the bus.
-Beat the eggs well.

Subjunctive expressing wishes, proposals, -I wish I could play all day.

suggestions, or imagined -If I were you, I would sleep early.
situations -He requested that coffee be served during
the meeting.

Indicative and Imperative moods are more commonly used and understood by users of the
language. It is the Subjunctive Mood that causes many mood swings among learners of the English
language so we’ll like to elaborate and explain more on this aspect.
A Subjunctive Mood usually appears in a sentence with two clauses:
- in one clause, there’s the subjunctive verb.
- in the other, there is the indicative verb.
e.g.

Indicative Subjunctive
I wish I could play all day.
If I were you, I would sleep early.
He requested that coffee be served during the meeting.
If I were the President of the United States I would do more to save America lives.

The following verbs are examples of other indicative verbs:

ask, demand, determine, insist, move, order, pray, prefer, recommend, regret,  request, require,
suggest, and wish.

Thus, when such indicative verbs are used, the verb in the following clause should be in the
subjunctive mood.

Thankfully, according to MOE English Language Syllabus 2010 (Primary and Secondary), which is the
most current version, the Subjunctive Mood is solely mentioned as “to express a wish that cannot be
fulfilled (e.g., I wish I had a sister.)”

Therefore, we shall just focus on this usage: expressing a wish. So here are some examples to
illustrate.
e.g. WRONG: I wish I have a baby sister.
CORRECT: I wish I had a baby sister. √

WRONG: She wishes she is a grown-up.

WRONG: She wishes she was a grown-up.
CORRECT: She wishes she were a grown up. √

WRONG: I wish my dream is real.

WRONG: I wish my dream was real.
CORRECT: I wish my dream were real. √
Exam tip:
- Do not jump straight to identifying the tense of the sentence as present tense, before wrongly
choosing present tense as the answer.
- Do not jump straight to identifying the subject of the sentence as singular, before wrongly
choosing a singular verb as the answer.
- Always read and understand the sentence first. Then, consider if the sentence is expressing a
wish that cannot be fulfilled. If yes, then choose the subjunctive verb.

4) The Subject Verb Object Infinitive/-ing (SVOI) Rule

or in more technical terms, the Sensory and Causative Verbs
This question type comes out every year, in almost every school paper. Unfortunately, there are still
students who can’t get them right. So let’s get down to it and learn how to master this type of
questions.

In SVOI, you will basically see the general structure of the sentence as such:

Also, the verbs that signal a need to use the SVOI rule:
Here are some examples:
E.g. WRONG: I felt the ground shook.
CORRECT: I felt the ground shake. √ (the ground shook for a moment)
CORRECT: I felt the ground shaking. √ (the ground was shaking for some time)

WRONG: I saw the burglar climbed over the fence.

CORRECT: I saw the burglar climb over the fence. √
CORRECT: I saw the burglar climbing over the fence. √
 WRONG: She made him danced for an hour.
WRONG: She made him dancing for an hour.
CORRECT: She made him dance for an hour. √

If the sentence is a long one, the SVOI structure might not be too obvious. What you can do is to
remove the unnecessary parts of the sentence such as the prepositional phrase, and identify the
SVOI structure.

Subject Verb Object Verb

sensory verbs saw/watched/observed/witnessed/ The verb can be infinitive or
noticed/caught continuous form.
heard/overheard No ’s’

felt No ‘ed’
Can ‘-ing’

causative verbs will make, made The verb can only be infinitive
let No ’s’
help, helped No ‘ed’
No ‘-ing’

Exam tip:
- Do not jump straight to identifying the tense of the sentence as past tense, before wrongly
choosing a verb in the past tense as the answer.
- Always read and understand the sentence first. Then consider if the sentence has an SVOI
structure. If yes, remember to use either the infinitive or -ing form of the verb for the object.
Kelvin Lee
Teaching was an unplanned move for this former SAF-turned-Financial-
Services-professional who found his calling when he was a school teacher
with the National Institute of Education (NIE). Thereafter, Kelvin was a
private tutor to a handful of students. The success of his students and
demand for his classes led to the  switch in  teaching group classes. His
commitment to ensuring students experience significant grade jumps is
what attracts parents to enrol all their children with him. A firm believer of
inspiring students to go beyond their perceived potential, Kelvin is a devoted
educator who continually refines his craft.
The Right Word is an English Specialist centre that has coached more than a thousand students
since 2013. With our proprietary Sail to Success techniques and TRW ethos, students have chosen
to go on their language acquisition journey with us through primary school to JC. 
The SAIL Approach:
An Enriching Journey Towards Academic Success

The SAIL Approach is conceived through research workshops and research projects
by the team of teachers at TRW. Through the journey of our Masters education,
journalism/writing expertise and the many years of experience we have collected
teaching students, we have put together an approach proven to inculcate inquisitive,
motivated students who have a zest for success in academic endeavours and in life.
The dynamic SAIL approach constantly innovates and adapts to the seas of change
that students are subjected to in this highly-globalised and competitive society.
If you’ve enjoyed this resource, you might be glad to know this is only one small
part out of the many strategies we use to tackle EVERY section of the
English paper.
 Why Students and Parents Love TRW

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PSLE with A*]

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Chong Dong Shyang (Qifa Primary School)

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The part of the lessons I enjoy most is Kahoot as it helps me learn English in a fun
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Rachel Lau (CHIJ)

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However, acquiring the strategy for comprehension cloze helped
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