Students are assigned a simple task involving a short paragraph in the present tense, in which the verbs are emphasized. The highlighted verbs are each followed by a blank line. The task involves the students rewriting the present-tense verb with its past-tense equivalent.

To change a verb to the past tense, you usually add "-ed" to the end of the word. However, many verbs do not follow this rule. For example, "stand" becomes "stood," but that's an exception! Most times, like "twirl" becomes "twirled," "jump" turns into "jumped," "splash" becomes "splashed," and "laugh" changes to "laughed." So, just remember to add "-ed" for many past actions, but watch out for some verbs that are a little different!