Digital SAT Grammar Rules: Verb Form Examples and Practice Questions with Answers for ESL Students
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This article helps students answer verb form questions in the Digital SAT grammar test. It explains the common types of verb form questions and gives clear example questions with answers.
The examples are designed to help ESL students and SAT learners choose the correct verb form quickly and confidently in the test.
Verb Form in Digital SAT
On the Digital SAT, verb form questions check whether you can match the verb to the subject and tense. You may need to decide between the base form, the third person singular form, the past tense form, or a participle form like the present participle or past participle. The SAT often uses clauses where verb conjugation must fit the subject, tense, and meaning. For example:
- The students are working on their projects. (present progressive)
- She has written three essays. (present perfect using past participle)
- They walked to school. (past form of a regular verb)
Watch for helping verbs (also called auxiliary verbs), like is, has, or will, that change the form of the main verb.
Form of the Verb
The form of a verb means the way the verb looks depending on its tense, subject, or function. In English grammar, verbs have different forms:
- Base form: the simplest form, e.g., walk, eat, go
- Third person singular form: adds -s or -es, e.g., walks, goes
- Past form: often adds -ed for regular verbs (walked), but changes for irregular verbs (went, ate)
- Present participle form: base + -ing, e.g., walking, eating
- Past participle form: used with have or be, e.g., walked (regular), eaten (irregular)
These forms help verbs fit into sentences correctly, whether the verb shows an action, is used as an adjective (the broken window), or is part of a tense like the perfect progressive.
Type 1: Past Tense
1. Although Benjamin Franklin excelled in science—and is often remembered for his experimental act of tying a key to a kite in a lightning storm—he considered himself foremost to be a publisher.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B was considering
- C would consider
- D considers
2. Nobody knows why the trees of the Crooked Forest (located in West Pomerania, Poland) bow out at such strange angles. While some people think that the trees were shaped for a purpose, such as furniture or boat carving, others believe that they were bent by strange weather.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B are shaping
- C shaped
- D be shaped for
3. In the 1904 Olympics men’s marathon, American runner Fred Lorz takes a car to the 19 mile mark and ran from there. Originally declared the winner, Lorz later lost the gold medal.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B is taking
- C was taking
- D took
Type 2: Past Continuous Tense
Amelia Earhart disappeared while she was attempting to traverse the globe in 1937.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B she attempts
- C she will attempt
- D to attempt
Type 3: Present Tense
The Pando aspen grove in Fishlake National Forest, Utah, is considered to be one single organism due to its intertwined roots. Pando, currently the heaviest known organism, weighed 6,600 tons.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B weighing
- (C weighs
- D has weighed
Type 4: Past Perfect Tense
Before last week, Paul has never heard the word “brouhaha.” Now he notices it everywhere he goes.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B had never heard
- C was never heard by
- D was never hearing
Type 5: Past Conditional Tense
If the tracks that make up the New York City subway were laid end to end, they will have been stretching from New York to Chicago.
Choose 1 answer:
- A NO CHANGE
- B stretch from
- C stretching from
- D would stretch from
LESSON 4
Digital SAT Grammar
9 steps to go from beginner to understanding the digital SAT questions, improving your knowledge, skills and ability to do your best in the SAT text.
The first SAT grammar lesson focused on subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement. Here we move on to subject modifier placement and verb form.
Answers
Type 1.1
- (Choice A, Checked, Correct) This choice maintains tense consistency with the past tense verbs “excelled” and “remembered”.
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice doesn’t match the simple past tense of “excelled” and “remembered”.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice inappropriately shifts to the conditional mood. It suggests a possible outcome, which doesn’t make sense for a past event that’s already been decided.
- Choice D, Incorrect) This choice results in an illogical construction; Franklin is “remembered” for his scientific contributions, which means he’s no longer alive and cannot exist in the present tense.
Type 1.2
- (Choice A, Checked, Correct) This choice maintains consistency with the past tense verb phrase “were bent” later in the sentence.
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the present progressive tense, inconsistent with the past tense “were bent”.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the active voice, illogically suggesting that the trees shaped themselves.
- (Choice D, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the subjunctive mood, which doesn’t match the indicative past tense of “were bent”.
Type 1.3
- (Choice A, Incorrect) This choice inappropriately uses the present tense to describe an event that took place in 1904; it also doesn’t maintain tense consistency with the past tense verbs throughout the passage: “ran”, “declared”, and “lost”.
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice contains an error in verb tense, inappropriately shifting to the present progressive tense, which conflicts with the past tense of “ran” in the same sentence.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice inappropriately uses the past progressive to describe a completed past event. The progressive tense is used to describe ongoing actions.
- (Choice D, Checked, Correct) This choice is consistent with the past tense verb “ran” later in the sentence, the past setting of 1904, and the other past tense verbs in the passage.
Type 2
- (Choice A, Checked, Correct) This choice correctly uses the past continuous tense verb phrase “was attempting” to indicate that this action was interrupted when she “disappeared.”
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice contains an error in verb tense—”attempts”, a present tense conjugation, conflicts with the past tense of “disappeared” and the year 1937.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the future tense—this sentence takes place in the past, and the disappearance takes place or interrupts Earhart’s attempt, which means that the verb phrase containing “attempt” should be in the past tense.
- (Choice D, Incorrect) This choice inappropriately shifts to an infinitive tense, setting it outside of time, but this verb takes place in 1937, before Earhart “disappeared”.
Type 3
- (Choice A, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the past tense. The adverb “currently” lets us know that Pando is still alive.
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice creates a sentence fragment. “Weighing” is a present participle that can’t serve on its own as the main verb for the sentence.
- (Choice C, Checked, Correct) This choice fixes the tense error. The present tense works best here because of the adverb “currently” and the present tense verb phrase “is considered”, which means that this depiction of Pando takes place in the present.
- (Choice D, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the present perfect tense, suggesting that the weight of Pando has changed since this measurement.
Type 4
- (Choice A, Incorrect) This choice contains in an inappropriate shift to the present perfect tense; it’s referring to something that happened yesterday, so it shouldn’t be in the present tense.
- (Choice B, Checked, Correct) This choice corrects the error by changing to the past perfect tense. The conversation happened yesterday, so it can’t be in the present.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice results in an illogical construction, saying that Paul was never heard by the word “brouhaha”. This choice was aiming to be a passive construction, where the word wasn’t heard by Paul, but “Paul” isn’t underlined in the paragraph above, and his position in the sentence doesn’t move.
- (Choice D, Incorrect) This choice shifts inappropriately to the past progressive tense, suggesting that Paul not hearing a word was an ongoing, recurring state, which doesn’t make sense for the one-time occurrence of hearing a word for the first time.
Type 5
- (Choice A, Incorrect) This choice results in an inappropriate shift to the future perfect continuous. It doesn’t match “were laid”, which is in the simple past conditional.
- (Choice B, Incorrect) This choice shifts inappropriately to the simple present tense, which doesn’t match the conditional mood set by “if the tracks . . . were laid”.
- (Choice C, Incorrect) This choice creates a sentence fragment. “stretching” is a present participle that can’t serve on its own as the main verb for the sentence.
- (Choice D, Checked, Correct) This choice correctly uses the simple past conditional tense and mood, which matches the tense and mood of “If the tracks . . . were laid”.
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Key areas where verb forms are tested on the Digital SAT
Key areas tested on the Digital SAT regarding verb forms:
- Verb Tenses:The SAT tests your ability to recognize and use various verb tenses, including past, present, and future, as well as perfect and progressive aspects.
- Verb Agreement:Ensure the verb agrees in number (singular or plural) with its subject.
- Verb Form:Pay attention to the specific form of the verb required (e.g., base form, -ing form, past participle).
- Consistency:Check for consistency in verb tense throughout a sentence or passage.
Strategies for answering Digital SAT verb form questions
Strategies for tackling Digital SAT verb form questions:
- Identify the time frame:Determine whether the sentence refers to the past, present, or future.
- Look for context clues:Pay attention to other verbs, adverbs, and phrases that indicate time.
- Consider the context of the passage:The correct verb form will often depend on the overall meaning and flow of the text.
- Practice with various question types:Familiarize yourself with different ways verb form errors are presented on the Digital SAT.
- Use resources:Utilize practice materials and guides that focus on Digital SAT grammar rules.
Questions & Answers on the Forms of Verbs
What is a verb form example?
A verb form example is: She is running. Here, running is the present participle form of the verb run.
Which is the verb form?
The verb form is the version of a verb that shows tense, subject agreement, or function. For example, walks is the third person singular form of walk.
What are the five verb forms?
The five verb forms in English are: base form, -s form (third person singular), -ing form (present participle), past form, and past participle form.
How to identify verb form?
You can identify the verb form by looking at how the verb is used in the sentence: check the tense, subject (singular or plural), and any helping verbs. For example, in He has eaten, eaten is the past participle form.
Verb form vocabulary: past form, present participle, past participle form, and more
To help ESL students understand SAT verb questions, here are some useful terms:
- Base form / root form of the verb: the simple form (e.g., eat)
- Third person singular form: adds -s (e.g., eats)
- Past tense form / past form: shows past time (e.g., ate)
- Present participle form: ends in -ing (e.g., eating)
- Past participle form: used in perfect tenses (e.g., eaten)
- Infinitive: to + base form (e.g., to eat)
- Gerund: -ing form used as a noun (e.g., Eating is fun.)
- Helping verb / auxiliary verb: supports the main verb (e.g., has, is, was)
- Modal verbs: show ability, possibility, permission (e.g., can, must, should)
- Passive voice: verb form where the subject receives the action (e.g., The book was written).
More information on verb forms: helping verbs, modal verbs, passive voice, and more
Verbs in English change their form to match the subject (e.g., third person singular) and tense (e.g., past form, present simple, perfect progressive). In SAT grammar, understanding verb conjugation, modal verbs, helping verbs, and when to use passive voice helps you choose the correct verb form. Whether the verb is regular or irregular, knowing the past and past participle forms is important. To learn more about verb forms, conjugation rules, and how verbs follow subjects in clauses, check out other parts of our SAT grammar series.