Persuasive Writing Worksheets for Exploring Verb Tense

When teaching persuasive writing, teachers often focus on elements such as text structure, persuasive devices and the use of evidence. While these are indeed important, there is another key grammatical feature that is often overlooked – verb tense! When students learn to use past, present and future tense effectively, they can shape how their readers feel, whether that’s explaining the current state of things, reflecting on past issues or imagining a better future.

These persuasive writing worksheets have been designed by our team to teach students about how past, present and future tenses are used in persuasive texts to achieve different purposes. The resource includes two distinct but related activities:

• Text Analysis Activity – This component of the resource includes a persuasive text claiming that school recess should be longer, with comprehension questions that guide students to notice how tense is used in different ways within the text.
• Text Comparison Activity – This component of the resources includes two versions of a persuasive text about school uniforms: one with consistent and effective tense use, and one with incorrect or awkward tense shifts. This activity also includes questions to guide students in analysing how tense use in each text affects clarity and persuasiveness.

This resource downloads as a black-and-white PDF or editable Google Slides file. The download also includes an answer key to make marking the worksheets fast and easy. 

Read on to learn more about why understanding tense use in persuasive writing is so important for our students.

The Benefits of Using This Persuasive Writing Worksheet Pack

Understanding verb tense in persuasive writing is an essential step in helping students become effective communicators. This persuasive writing worksheet pack presents the following benefits for your students:

• Improves clarity and coherence – Students often mix tenses without realising it, which can make their arguments confusing. By explicitly studying tense use, they learn how to maintain consistency and keep their writing easy to follow.
• Strengthens persuasive impact – Exploring how present tense creates urgency (“We need action now!”) or future tense paints possibility (“This will improve our school”) helps students choose language that truly influences their audience.
• Builds editing and self-reflection skills – This worksheet pack encourages students to spot tense errors in writing, a skill that is especially helpful during peer- and self-editing sessions (and saves you from marking the same mistakes repeatedly!).

Download These Printable Persuasive Writing Worksheets, Ready for Classroom Use!

These printable persuasive writing worksheets are ready for classroom use with no further prep required! To access your copy, simply click the Download button above and select your preferred file format. (Note: You will be prompted to make a copy of the Google Slides template on your personal drive before accessing it.)

As this resource contains answers, you may wish to print one copy only, then remove the answer sheet before making further copies.

Print the worksheets for immediate classroom use (double-sided, if you can!) or save time at the photocopier by projecting them onto a digital screen.

This resource was created by Kaylyn Chupp, a teacher and Teach Starter collaborator.

Complement This Persuasive Writing Worksheets PDF with More Great Resources

Looking for more teacher-created, curriculum-aligned resources to use when teaching persuasive writing to your students? Teach Starter has you covered! Click below to browse some great selections from our extensive library.

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