What is the verb tense of the phrase a promise?

Answer 1

The word "promise" can be a noun (you used it as a noun when you asked about a promise), or it can be a verb (to promise). But the noun phrase "a promise" does not have any tense-- nouns are singular or plural; only verbs have tense in English, showing when the action occurred. So... when used as a verb, the past tense looks like this: Yesterday, I promised the teacher that I would finish my homework on time (I made that promise yesterday). On the other hand, you can "make" a promise, in which case, the past tense is: I made a promise that I would finish my homework on time.