Past and Future Tense Worksheets (ESL)

This 2-page worksheet package targets past tense and future tense — two of the most common trouble spots for ESL students at every level.

What’s Inside

• Page 1 — Past Tense: Regular verbs (fill-in-the-blank) · Irregular verbs with word bank · Error correction
• Page 2 — Future Tense: “Will” sentences · “Going to” sentences (including negatives & questions) · Will vs. Going To choice exercises
• Page 3 — Answer Key (teacher’s copy)

Exercises are designed to be completed in 20–30 minutes. Great for individual practice, homework, or in-class review.

How to Use These Worksheets in Class

The past tense section moves from controlled to free practice. Start with the regular verbs fill-in-the-blank so students lock in the -ed ending and notice spelling shifts like stop → stopped et study → studied. Then move to the irregular verb word bank — this is where most Taiwan learners stall, because the form has to be memorized rather than reasoned out. Finish with error correction, which forces students to read like an editor.

The future tense page treats will et going to as separate tools, not interchangeable synonyms. Use the choice exercises to make the difference concrete: going to for plans and predictions based on present evidence, will for spontaneous decisions and offers. If your students keep defaulting to one form, drill the other in isolation for a class before mixing them.

Why This Pair of Tenses Trips Up Taiwan Learners

Mandarin handles time with aspect markers and context, not verb conjugation, so the leap to English past forms feels arbitrary. The fix is volume — these worksheets give roughly 60 production opportunities across two pages, which is what it takes to start automating the form. Pair this PDF with a five-minute warm-up where students recount their weekend (past) and weekend plans (future) before each unit review.