About this activity
Twelve sentences sorted by which ending they use: She is jumping, They are playing, The dog is barking, Mom is cooking, The baby is crying and They are running take -ing; He walked home, We painted the fence, I cleaned my room, She washed the dishes, He wanted a snack and We watched a movie take -ed. The helping verb is the real clue, which is what makes this a syntax task as much as a morphology one.
How to use it in a session
Point at the helping verb. Is, are and am signal -ing, and their absence signals the past — a student who learns to look there will sort correctly without thinking about the ending at all. Once sorting is reliable, give a bare verb and a time word and ask for the sentence, which is production rather than recognition. Eight minutes covers the twelve.
What to listen for
Listen for the -ed pronunciations. Walked ends in a /t/ sound, cleaned in a /d/, and wanted adds a whole syllable — three different endings from one spelling, and students who have been taught -ed as one thing find this confusing rather than obvious. Watch for the helping verb being omitted in speech, which is a separate and common pattern.
Carrying it home
Narrating what is happening and what happened gives both forms constantly. I'm cooking, then I cooked dinner — the pair heard together is what makes the contrast audible.
Questions
- What grades is this for?
- First through third, as early morphology and verb tense work.
- Is it free?
- Yes, all twelve sentences play with no account.
- Why does -ed sound different in different words?
- The ending assimilates to the sound before it — washed ends in a /t/ sound, cleaned in a /d/, wanted adds a syllable. One spelling, three pronunciations, and saying so directly clears up a lot of confusion.