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Past Simple

The document explains the formation and usage of the past simple tense, highlighting regular and irregular verbs. It details spelling rules for regular verbs and provides examples of how to use the past simple for completed actions, repeated actions, and situations that finished in the past. Additionally, it discusses the use of adverbs of time to indicate when past actions occurred.

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nancy.areco
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18 views2 pages

Past Simple

The document explains the formation and usage of the past simple tense, highlighting regular and irregular verbs. It details spelling rules for regular verbs and provides examples of how to use the past simple for completed actions, repeated actions, and situations that finished in the past. Additionally, it discusses the use of adverbs of time to indicate when past actions occurred.

Uploaded by

nancy.areco
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

PAST SIMPLE

1. REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS

Most verbs add −ed to the infinitive to form the past simple:

I stayed with my friend last night.


POSITIVE He learned native American languages.
They failed the exam.

I did not (didn’t) stay with her last night.


NEGATIVE She did not (didn’t) learn any languages.
We did not (didn’t) fail the exam.

Did you stay with her? Yes, I did.


QUESTIONS Did she learn any languages? No, she didn’t.
Which exam did they fail?

Many common verbs are irregular, e.g. Be → Was / Were, Do → Did, Go → Went,
Have → Had, Make → Made, Put → Put, Say → Said, See → Saw, Take → Took,
Tell → Told

2. SPELLING OF REGULAR VERBS

Past simple endings and past participles.

• Verbs ending in −e add −d:


Die → Died, Live → Lived, Like → Liked

• Verbs ending in a consonant + y take away −y and add −ied:


Carry → Carried, Study → Studied

• Verbs ending in a vowel + y add −ed:


Enjoy → Enjoyed, Play → Played

• Verbs of one syllable that end in a short vowel + consonant double the
consonant and add −ed:
Stop → Stopped, Plan → Planned, Rob → Robbed

• Verbs with more than one syllable that end in a stressed short vowel and
one consonant (NOT y, w, or x) double the consonant and add −ed:
Prefer → Preferred

We do not normally repeat the consonant if the final syllable is not stressed:
Visit → Visited
BUT British English: Travel → Travelled, American English: Travel → Traveled

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3. PAST SIMPLE FOR PAST ACTIONS AND SITUATIONS

We use the past simple for:

• A SINGLE COMPLETED ACTION o He died in 1539.


IN THE PAST o Did you see the film last night?

o He learned several native American


• REPEATED ACTIONS IN THE languages.
PAST o Caroline phoned her family every
day when she was on holiday.

o We arrived in Rome at eleven


• A SERIES OF ACTIONS (WHEN o’clock and took a taxi to Franco’s
ONE THING HAPPENS AFTER apartment. Then we went to the
ANOTHER) IN THE PAST square and looked round the shops,
but we didn’t buy anything.

o He lived from 1500 to 1539.


• SITUATIONS THAT FINISHED IN
o Children didn’t have so many
THE PAST
electronic toys when I was young.

4. PAST SIMPLE + ADVERBS OF TIME; WHEN, AFTER

We often use adverbs of time to say when a past action happened, for example:

• AGO. We arrived at the airport ten minutes ago. (ten minutes before now)
• FOR. With periods of time. The economic crisis lasted for two years.
• LAST WEEK / MONTH / YEAR. Mariela started college last month. We had a
general election last year.

We can also use when / after + past simple:


Þ When they arrived, they explored Texas and New Mexico.
Þ After Rory left home that morning, he went to work as usual…

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