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THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
a. Use :
The Simple Past Tense is used to talk about completed actions in the past:
--> My brother got a new job in Madrid last week.
--> How did he react when you told the truth?
--> Shakespeare died in 1616.
In addition, the Simple
Past is used to describe situations which existed for a period of time in the
past. --> Millions of years ago, dinosaurs inhabited the
earth. --> George Washington was the first president
of the United States.
The Simple Past is also used to express
non-continuous actions which occurred at a definite time in the past. -->
Columbus reached America in 1492. --> I
graduated from school last year.
It is also used to talk about habits in the past:
--> We always had roast beef on Sundays when I was a boy.
--> We used to walk a mile in the morning when we were in London.
--> We never went abroad for our holidays until the 1970s
It is used to talk about events that happened one after the other:
--> He jumped out of bed, ran into the bathroom and slammed the door.
It is used in the second conditional
--> She would help him if she knew he was in trouble.
2. Formation of the simple past: a.
The verb To Be The Simple Past of the verb to be is conjugated as
follows:
I was |
you were |
he was |
she was |
it was |
we were |
they were | Questions and negative
statements The Simple Present and Simple Past of the verb to be do
not use auxiliaries to form questions and negative statements. Instead, the verb
itself is used.
The verb to be forms questions and negative
statements in the same way in the Simple Past as in the Simple Present. In order
to form a question, the verb is placed before the subject. For
example:
Affirmative Statement |
Question |
I was awake. |
Was I awake? |
They were ready. |
Were they ready? | In order
to form a negative statement, the word not is placed after the
verb. For example:
Affirmative Statement |
Negative Statement |
I was awake. |
I was not awake. |
They were ready. |
They were not ready. | In spoken English, the following contractions are often
used:
Without Contractions |
With Contractions |
was not |
wasn't |
were not |
weren't | In order to form a negative
question, the verb is placed before the subject, and the word not is
placed after the subject. However, when contractions are used, the contracted
form of not immediately follows the verb. For example:
Without Contractions |
With Contractions |
Was I not awake? |
Wasn't I awake? |
Were they not ready? |
Weren't they ready? | In order to form
tag questions, the verb itself is used. In the following examples, the
negative tag questions are underlined. Contractions are usually used in negative
tag questions.
Affirmative Statement |
Affirmative Statement with Tag Question |
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|
I was awake. |
I was awake, wasn't I? |
They were ready. |
They were ready, weren't
they? |
b. Other verbs English verbs other than
the verb to be have the same form in the Simple Past, regardless of the
subject.
In the case of regular English verbs, the Simple Past has
the same form as the past participle. For example, the Simple Past of the
regular verb to work is conjugated as follows:
I worked |
you worked |
he worked |
she worked |
it worked |
we worked |
they worked |
In the case of irregular
English verbs, the form of the Simple Past must be memorized. As illustrated by
the examples below, for some irregular verbs, the Simple Past is the same as the
past participle; whereas for others, the Simple Past differs from the past
participle. For example:
Bare Infinitive |
Simple Past |
Past Participle |
begin |
began |
begun |
find |
found |
found |
go |
went |
gone |
let |
let |
let |
take |
took |
taken | Like the regular verbs, irregular
verbs other than the verb to be do not modify in the Simple Past, but
have the same form, regardless of the subject. For example, the Simple Past of
the irregular verb to take is conjugated as follows:
I took |
you took |
he took |
she took |
it took |
we took |
they took |
i. Questions and negative statements In
both the Simple Present and the Simple Past of verbs other than the verb to
be, questions and negative statements are formed using the auxiliary to
do and the bare infinitive.
For questions and negative statements in
the Simple Past, the Simple Past of the auxiliary to do is used. The
Simple Past of to do is conjugated as follows:
I did |
you did |
he did |
she did |
it did |
we did |
they did | In order to change an
affirmative statement into a question, did is placed before the
subject, and the form of the verb is changed from the Simple Past to the bare
infinitive. In the following example, the regular verb to work is used.
The verb to work has the Simple Past worked, and the bare
infinitive work.
Affirmative Statement |
Question |
I worked. |
Did I work? |
You worked. |
Did you work? |
He worked. |
Did he work? |
She worked. |
Did she work? |
It worked. |
Did it work? |
We worked. |
Did we work? |
They worked. |
Did they work? |
In order to change an affirmative statement into a negative
statement, did not is placed after the subject, and the form of the
verb is changed to the bare infinitive. In the following example, the irregular
verb to speak is used. The verb to speak has the bare infinitive
speak and the Simple Past spoke.
Affirmative Statement |
Negative Statement |
I spoke. |
I did not speak. |
You spoke. |
You did not speak. |
He spoke. |
He did not speak. |
She spoke. |
She did not speak. |
It spoke. |
It did not speak. |
We spoke. |
We did not speak. |
They spoke. |
They did not speak. |
In spoken English, the following contraction is
often used:
Without Contraction |
With Contraction |
did not |
didn't | In order to change an affirmative
statement into a negative Question, did is placed before the
subject, not is placed after the subject, and the form of the verb is
changed to the bare infinitive. However, when contractions are used, the
contracted form of not follows immediately after the auxiliary
did. For example:
Without Contractions |
With Contractions |
Did I not work? |
Didn't I work? |
Did you not work? |
Didn't you work? |
Did he not work? |
Didn't he work? |
Did she not work? |
Didn't she work? |
Did it not work? |
Didn't it work? |
Did we not work? |
Didn't we work? |
Did they not work? |
Didn't they work? |
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