Free Year 3 Verb tense (simple past/present) Practice | Skillo

Year 3 students sitting their first NAPLAN need to be confident with verb tense (simple past/present). Verbs are anchored in time through tense; sentence cues (yesterday, now, last week) signal which tense to use. Skillo has targeted practice questions for this exact skill, mapped to the Australian Curriculum v9.0, free and ready to go.

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What is tested: Verb tense (simple past/present)

  • Verbs are anchored in time through tense; sentence cues (yesterday, now, last week) signal which tense to use.
  • Questions test identification and correction of errors
  • Both Australian English conventions and sentence structure are assessed

Sample questions

Question 1Easy

Yesterday, Priya ___ her lunch at school.

A) eats
B) eating
C) eat
D) ate

Answer: The time cue 'yesterday' tells us the action happened in the past, so we need the simple past tense. 'Ate' is the simple past form of 'eat'. 'Eats' is simple present, 'eating' is a participle that cannot stand alone, and 'eat' is the base form used for present tense.

Question 2Medium

Yesterday, Priya ___ her lunch at school.

A) eat
B) eating
C) ate
D) eats

Answer: The time cue 'yesterday' signals that the verb must be in the simple past tense. 'Ate' is the correct simple past form of 'eat'. 'Eat' and 'eats' are present tense forms, and 'eating' is a present participle that cannot stand alone as the main verb here.

Question 3Hard

Yesterday, Mia ___ her lunch at school.

A) eat
B) eats
C) eating
D) ate

Answer: The time cue 'yesterday' signals that the action happened in the past, so a simple past tense verb is needed. 'Ate' is the correct simple past tense of 'eat'. 'Eat' is present tense, 'eats' is present tense with a third-person singular ending, and 'eating' is a present participle that cannot stand alone as the main verb here.

How to use Skillo for Year 3 Grammar

  1. Select Year 3 and Grammar on the home screen
  2. Use Quick Practice — questions on verb tense (simple past/present) will appear as part of the session
  3. Check the Skill Breakdown on your profile to track your accuracy on verb tense (simple past/present) specifically
  4. Review explanations after each question to understand the reasoning behind correct answers

Skillo is free, requires no email or account details, and is built specifically for Australian students. Every question is mapped to the Australian Curriculum v9.0 and filtered by skill so your child practises exactly what they need.

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