Today's blog post will be for our ESL readers! Many ESL students struggle with the proper tensing of two very common verbs: "is" and "are." In our experience, these two verbs cause the most confusion for non-native English speakers.
"Is" is the present tense version of the verb to be. "Was" is the past tense version of this same verb. Below is an example to help differentiate between the two.
PRESENT TENSE: Cory is happy.
PAST TENSE: Cory was happy.
PRESENT TENSE: Cory is practicing soccer today.
PAST TENSE: Cory was practicing soccer yesterday.
"Are" is the plural form of the verb to be. "Were" is the past tense version of this same verb. When more than one person, place or thing is doing something, we use this verb.
PRESENT TENSE: The soccer players are practicing today.
PAST TENSE: The soccer players were practicing yesterday.
PRESENT: The fishing conditions are favorable today.
PAST: The fishing conditions were favorable yesterday.
We hope you have found this guide helpful. If you should have any questions regarding tensing, please feel free to email us at: info@universityproofreading.com!
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