About This Worksheet
This Grade 7 Language Arts worksheet helps students rewrite a personal story from past tense into present tense. The passage follows a student who loses a phone at the mall and searches several places before getting it back. Students must change the verbs so the events sound as though they are happening right now. For example, “I went to the mall” becomes “I go to the mall,” while “we walked through the stores” becomes “we walk through the stores.”
Learning Goals
The main goal is to help students understand how changing verb tense changes the reader’s sense of time. Students should already be able to recognize common past-tense verbs in a story. This activity moves them toward rewriting an entire paragraph while keeping one tense consistent from beginning to end. It supports CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.7.1, which focuses on correct verb forms and consistent tense use.
Student Tasks
On this worksheet, students will read a three-paragraph personal narrative written in past tense. They will rewrite the complete story in present tense on the lines below. This requires changing regular verbs such as walked and searched, as well as irregular forms such as went, was, had, found, held, and thanked. Students must keep the events, details, and order the same while changing only what is needed for the new time frame.
Common Challenges
Some students may change the first few verbs and then slip back into past tense later in the paragraph. Others may overlook helping verbs or irregular forms because they do not simply end in -ed. The sentence “I had it when we were reading” may need more careful revision than a simple verb swap. Encourage students to underline every verb before rewriting and check each one against the new present-time setting.
Teaching Suggestions
A teacher can rewrite the first two sentences with the class and point out every word that changes. Students can then use one color to mark past-tense verbs and another to write their present-tense replacements. At home, a parent can ask the child to tell the story aloud as though it is happening right now. Once the student can say the story naturally in present tense, writing it becomes much easier.
Worksheet Features
The worksheet includes one complete personal narrative with enough detail to make the tense change meaningful. Generous writing lines provide room for a full rewrite rather than scattered corrections. The mall setting and missing-phone problem give students a clear sequence to follow. This page works well for verb-tense practice, narrative revision, homework, or an editing assessment.