DSE English — Tense and Passive Voice Tutor Prep Guide | Timeline, three pasts, six sentences

2026-11-03

Tutor lesson-prep guides · Secondary English

Students say a sentence “sounds wrong” but cannot name the fault. This lesson replaces feel with a timeline: one error in six sentences is already 83.3% wrong, and getting back above ninety per cent means drawing the line before choosing the verb.

Objectives — Students can: (1) order two past events in one sentence and put the earlier one in had plus past participle; (2) explain what each of the three past forms does and write one example of each; (3) decide when the passive is right (doer unknown, unimportant, or the receiver is the focus), and correct the faulty sentence in a six-sentence passage to reach 83.3% accuracy.

01 Prerequisites (3-minute check)

If any of these fails, fix it before the lesson starts.

Skill	Quick check	Pass mark
Verb forms	What are the past simple and past participle of write?	wrote and written
Timeline	Which event does the past perfect mark?	The earlier of two past events
Agreement	Is everyone singular or plural?	Singular
Passive form	What is the basic passive structure?	be plus past participle

02 Lesson flow (60 minutes)

Time	Stage	Tutor does	Student does
0–6 min	Diagnose six sentences	Read a faulty passage, give no answers	Underline what sounds odd
6–18 min	Three past forms	Tell one story three ways	Draw the timeline and mark order
18–30 min	When to use the passive	Compare an active and a passive sentence	Name the three situations
30–42 min	Correction drill	Six sentences, four faulty, change verbs only	Write the fix and the reason
42–52 min	Write a paragraph	One hundred words, one time frame	Check for tense jumps
52–60 min	Exit check	Mark three answers on the spot	Work alone

03 Teaching script (read it out)

Scene 1: Draw the line before choosing the verb

One error in a 6-sentence passage is 83.3% wrong, which looks tolerable until it becomes every sixth sentence of an essay. The routine is mechanical: circle the time words (yesterday, when, before, by the time), draw a line, order the events, and only then choose the verb. Time words are evidence, not decoration.

Students should say what they circle first when drawing the line.

Scene 2: Each past form has a job

Past simple reports a finished event (I watched a film); past continuous reports what was in progress (I was watching a film when he called); past perfect marks the earlier event (The film had started before I arrived). One story can use all three, and the order comes from the timeline, not from sentence length. Had is not “more advanced”: it only marks “earlier”.

Students should tell one story using all three forms.

Scene 3: The passive is a choice, not a promotion

My bike was stolen yesterday is passive because the thief is unknown. When the doer matters, write active: The security guard stopped the thief. Three reasons for the passive: the doer is unknown, the doer is unimportant, the receiver is the focus. If students use it, they must be able to name which reason applies.

Students should name the three reasons and give one example each.

04 Question types and worked steps

Type	Example	Steps	Answer
Tense choice	When I arrived, the film ___ (start).	1. Find both past events 2. Decide which is earlier 3. Use had plus past participle	had started
Passive rewrite	Someone stole my bike yesterday.	1. Find the receiver 2. Move it to the front 3. be plus past participle, by optional	My bike was stolen yesterday.
Error correction	She has went to school.	1. Find the auxiliary 2. Check the participle	She has gone to school.
Paragraph consistency	A paragraph mixing present and past	1. Fix the time frame 2. Make the verbs agree 3. Past perfect only for the earlier event	Past simple throughout, past perfect for the earlier event

Sanity check (teach this): Checks: one error in 6 sentences is 83.3%, two errors is 66.7%, and both come from the same division, so no one writes “about eighty per cent” from memory. 400 words in 30 minutes is 13.3 words a minute; 40 minutes gives 10 words a minute, so practice must be timed at the exam pace.

05 Independent practice (3 questions)

Question	Answer	What to watch
Accuracy with one error in six	83.3%	Divided by 6
Accuracy with two errors in six	66.7%	Written as 40%
400 words in 30 minutes, words per minute	13.3	Minutes taken as seconds
400 words in 40 minutes, words per minute	10	Confused with the previous item

06 Common mistakes and what to say

Mistake	Student writes	Say this
Present tense for past events	Yesterday I go to school.	“The sentence starts with yesterday, so the verb steps back one place: go becomes went.”
Past perfect everywhere	Before I slept, I had watched TV every night.	“Had marks the earlier single event. A habit uses the past simple; adding had suggests it happened once.”
Passive without be	The window broken by the boy.	“A passive needs be: was broken. Without it you have a fragment, not a sentence.”
Agreement slip	Everyone in the class were ready.	“Everyone is singular, so the verb is was; the phrase after it does not make the subject plural.”

07 Homework (paper, section and question numbers)

English chapter index — Review summary and note-making, then do this week tense drill
Summary and Note-making — Keep one tense across the notes and practise paragraph consistency
Reading: Inference and Tone — Circle time words while reading and infer tense from evidence

08 Exit check (last 5 minutes)

Question	Answer	Decision
Accuracy with one error in six	83.3%	Wrong: 1 divided by 6
When I arrived, the film ___	had started	Wrong: started
Three reasons for the passive	Doer unknown, doer unimportant, receiver in focus	Wrong: “it sounds formal”
Be verb after everyone	was	Wrong: were

09 Tutor FAQ

Is the past perfect always needed?

Only when the earlier event must be marked; if the order is already clear, the past simple is enough.

Does the passive weaken writing?

Only when misused; for unknown doers in reports and news it is the clearer choice.

Is spoken tense the same?

The concepts are, but speech shortens forms; writing must follow the timeline consistently.

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A TutorZone lesson-prep guide. Written by the TutorZone team; questions and lesson flow are original and are not taken from any school or publisher material.