REET Level 1 study notes
Tenses, Voice and Narration — Primary English (Classes I-V)
At the primary level, tenses, voice and narration are introduced only to age-appropriate depth. The five basic tenses are simple present, simple past, simple future, present continuous and past continuous. Voice is taught at recognition level: in active voice the subject does the action, while in passive voice the subject receives the action and the verb uses a `be` form plus past participle, often with the doer after `by`. Narration introduces direct speech, where exact words are kept in quotation marks, and indirect speech, where the idea is reported in another speaker's words; tense back-shift happens when the reporting verb is in the past.
Key points
- Five basic tenses are introduced at the primary stage: simple present, simple past, simple future, present continuous, and past continuous.
- Voice is taught at recognition level only — children identify whether the subject does the action (active) or receives it (passive).
- Passive voice always uses an is/are/was/were + past participle structure with the doer following "by"; "by" alone is not enough.
- Direct speech keeps the speaker's exact words inside quotation marks; indirect speech reports the idea in the listener's voice.
- Tense back-shift in indirect speech happens when the reporting verb is in the past, not when it is in the simple present.
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At the primary level, tenses, voice and narration are introduced only to age-appropriate depth. The five basic tenses are simple present, simple past, simple future, present continuous and past continuous. Voice is taught at recognition level: in active voice the subject does the action, while in passive voice the subject receives the action and the verb uses a `be` form plus past participle, often with the doer after `by`....