The document discusses the past tense in English. It defines the past tense as a grammatical tense used to talk about actions or situations that occurred in the past. It describes the characteristics and uses of the past tense. It discusses the different types of past tense formations for regular and irregular verbs. It provides examples of using the past tense in affirmative, negative, and interrogative sentences. It concludes with exercises for practicing past tense conjugations.
2. PAST TENSE
- DEFINITION
Is a grammatical tense whose principal function is to place an
action or situation in past time. It is the basic form that it is
used to talk about something that happened. The time of the
action can be in the recent past or the distant past and action
duration is not important.
3. PAST TENSE
- CHARACTERISTICS
- It’s used to refer to something that happened in the past
(like this affirmation)
- The simple past tense of regular verbs is marked by the
ending -d or -ed.
- Irregular verbs have a variety of endings.
- The simple past is not accompanied by helping verbs.
4. - For referring actions that are already finished.
- To interrupt an action which in the past was being in
progress.
- To talk about a past state of being, such as the way
someone felt about something.
- In referring to hypothetical situations such as in condition
clauses.
PAST TENSE
- uses
5. NOW, when you’re planning to use the past tense, you have got
to be CAREFUL, because there are two ways to form a verb
conjugation, using REGULAR VERBS and IRREGULAR
VERBS.
- REGULAR VERBS finish with -ed
- IRREGULAR VERBS don’t have rules: they could change
completely, half a change or no change at all
PAST TENSE
- TYPES
6. Past tense formation is mostly straightforward, and you use the same form for the first,
second, and third persons, singular and plural:
- If the basic form of the verb ends in a consonant or a vowel other than e, add the
letters -ed to the end (e.g. seem/seemed, laugh/laughed, look/looked).
- For verbs that end in -e, add -d (e.g. love/loved, recede/receded, hope/hoped).
- If the verb ends in a consonant plus -y, change the y to an i before adding -ed
(e.g. hurry/hurried, clarify/clarified). But if the verb ends in a vowel plus -y, just
add -ed (e.g. play/played, enjoy/enjoyed).
PAST TENSE
- TYPES: Regular Verbs
7. Irregular verbs can be a bit tricky in the past
tense, but they don't have to be if you
familiarize yourself with them. There is no
easy way to learn how to conjugate irregular
verbs in the past tense: You simply have to
memorize them.
PAST TENSE
- TYPES: Irregular Verbs
8. PAST TENSE
- AFFIRMATIVE, NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE FORMS
AFFIRMATIVE
The affirmative of the simple past tense is simple.
- I was in Japan last year
- She had a headache yesterday.
- We did our homework last night.
NEGATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE
For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "to do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "did",
e.g. We didn't do our homework last night.
The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "did", but sometimes by
simply adding not or the contraction "n't".
The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "did".
9. PAST TENSE
- EXAMPLES
● something that happened once in the past:
I met my wife in 1983.
We went to Spain for our holidays.
They got home very late last night.
● something that happened again and again in
the past:
When I was a boy I walked a mile to school every
day.
We swam a lot while we were on holiday.
They always enjoyed visiting their friends.
● something that was true for some time in
the past:
I lived abroad for ten years.
He enjoyed being a student.
She played a lot of tennis when she was
younger.
● we often use phrases with ago with the past
tense:
I met my wife a long time ago.
10. PAST TENSE
- EXAMPLES
We use didn’t (did not) to make negatives with the past tense:
They didn’t go to Spain this year.
We didn’t get home until very late last night.
I didn’t see you yesterday.
Questions and negatives
We use did to make questions with the past tense:
When did you meet your wife?
Where did you go for your holidays?
Did she play tennis when she was younger?
Did you live abroad?
But look at these questions:
Who discovered penicillin?
Who wrote Don Quixote?
frequency: often, sometimes, always
- I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
- I often brought my lunch to school.
a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child,
yesterday, six weeks ago
- We saw a good film last week.
- Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
- She finished her work at seven o'clock
- I went to the theatre last night
an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time
ago
- People lived in caves a long time ago.
- She played the piano when she was a child.
11. PAST TENSE
- EXERCISES
1. Last year I (go) ____ to England on holiday.
2. It (be) _____ fantastic.
3. I (visit) ____ lots of interesting places. I (be) ______ with two friends of
mine .
4. In the mornings we (walk) ______ in the streets of London.
5. In the evenings we (go) ______ to pubs.
6. The weather (be) _______ strangely fine.
7. It (not / rain) _______ a lot.
8. But we (see) _______ some beautiful rainbows.
9. Where (spend / you) _______ your last holiday?
12. PAST TENSE
- EXERCISES
1. Last year I (go) WENT to England on holiday.
2. It (be) WAS fantastic.
3. I (visit) VISITED lots of interesting places. I (be) WAS with two friends of
mine .
4. In the mornings we (walk) WALKED in the streets of London.
5. In the evenings we (go) WENT to pubs.
6. The weather (be) WAS strangely fine.
7. It (not / rain) DID NOT RAIN a lot.
8. But we (see) SAW some beautiful rainbows.
9. Where (spend / you) DID YOU SPEND your last holiday?
