English·Grammar & Punctuation·procedural
Progressive and Continuous Tenses
Form and use the progressive (continuous) verb tenses — past progressive (was walking), present progressive (am walking), and future progressive (will be walking) — to convey ongoing actions at different times
Suggested ages 9–10
Learning journey
Your child is mastering advanced grammar and punctuation — using complex sentence structures with relative clauses, understanding how to change word meanings with prefixes and suffixes, and creating cohesive, well-connected writing.
Evidence of understanding
- Write sentences using past progressive to describe an action that was ongoing at a particular time, e.g. 'She was reading when the phone rang'
- Distinguish present progressive from simple present, e.g. 'I am eating lunch' (right now) vs 'I eat lunch at noon' (habitual)
- Form the future progressive using 'will be' + present participle to describe an action that will be ongoing, e.g. 'Tomorrow at 3pm I will be travelling'
Assessment prompt
If Progressive and Continuous Tenses wants to describe an action that was happening over a period of time in the past — like "I was reading when the phone rang" — can they write the verb in the right ongoing-past form?
Standards alignment
L.4.1bUS · ccss-ela
L.4.1b
Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts & Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects · 4