Verb Tense and Form - Advanced Practice

Advanced Practice

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For this activity, you will read a paragraph with some correct and incorrect verb tenses. Each sentence is numbered with the verbs in bold. In the text boxes, answer each question about verb tense logic following the directions indicated in each question’s text.

Please note, there may be multiple response options although you will see only one option after you submit your responses. Compare your responses to the AGG responses and determine if one is more effective in terms of identifying and explaining tense shifts and revising any illogical verbs.

You must respond to the questions before the AGG responses will be displayed. After you submit your response, you will see the AGG response, but you won’t be able to see your response until the end. After the quiz, you will be able to review the summary of responses including your own responses and the AGG responses. This quiz has a set of questions about each of the 7 sentences.

Example: I can clearly remember one time I try to ask the math professor a question during my first lecture in college last quarter.

Is each verb in a logical tense?  If the verbs are logical, write “yes,” and if not, state which verb (or verbs) is illogical and revise so it is logical.

Response: No. “Try” is not in a logical tense. While “can remember” is logically in the present tense, “try” should be “tried,” which is the past tense, because of the phrase “last quarter” later in the sentence.

Is there a tense switch within this sentence?  Explain whether the tense shift (or lack of a shift) is logical or illogical. If you made any revisions in part i, explain how those changes affect your response. 

Response: The original sentence does not have a tense shift, which is illogical. After “try” is revised to “tried,” the author shifts from present tense (“can remember”) to past tense (“tried”). This shift is now logical because the author is currently remembering a past event.

(1) I was “learning” English since elementary school. (2) The reason I added quotation marks is that in almost every Chinese school, rather than teaching students how to actually use English as a tool to communicate, educators teach students how to deal with English exams, which consist mostly of vocabulary and grammar. (3) After starting my college life in America, I am now proficient in reading and writing but still had lacked the ability to speak English in front of people.   (4) Actually, this issue has become a major problem among Chinese students in American colleges. (5) I once read an article written by a professor at a university in America. (6) In the article, the author said that there are more and more Chinese students who came to America nowadays and they often get nice grades in class. (7) However, unlike native speakers, these Chinese students barely speak or ask questions during lectures.

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