THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

*REGULAR VERBS: the simple past tense of regular verbs is formed by adding –ed
to the infinitive of the verb.

*PRONOUNCIATION
[t]
look, walk, watch, talk, finish, wash, thank, ask, cook, help, stop.
[d]
play, love, open, follow, arrive, rain, enter, snow, learn, welcome, clean.
[id]
want, start, wait, visit, decide, include, hand, guide, greet, attend, land.

*IRREGULAR VERBS: usually change their base form (the infinitive) to make the
past tense. They must be memorized.

*WORD ORDER in positive sentences is: SUBJECT, PREDICATE, DIRECT

OBJECT, ADVERBIAL OF MANNER.
E.g. Mother fed the baby lovingly.
The police officer arrested the burglar quickly

*USES
USES
1. Actions completed at a definite time in
the past [with: last night, yesterday, a
week ago, etc.]
2. Actions extending over a longer period
of time before they were completed
[with: for a month, for a long time, etc]
3. Sequences of actions in the past, e.g.
narratives, reports of methods and
processes, TV commentaries, etc
4. Characteristic actions in the past.
5. Habitual, repetitive actions in the past
[with: always, often, usually, seldom,
never, every day, in the morning, etc.]
6. In indirect speech, as a past equivalent
of the simple present after a reporting
verb (say, tell, ask) in a past tense.
EXAMPLES
At dinner time, the children rang the
doorbell.
For several years, the man worked on a
special machine in his attic.
Snow White was alone in the deep
woods. She walked and walked; she
crossed a small bridge and came to a
small house.
Once there was a man who lived in
America. He invented things.
When I was in college, I never studied on
Saturdays. I often read science-fiction
stories on the weekends.
The man told the reporter that he liked to
do experiments.
*DETAILS ABOUT COMPLETED PAST EVENTS
DETAILS ABOUT PST EVENTS EXAMPLES
1. the time, place or other details about The phone rang as soon as I got home.
the past event are given. I ran into Cathy at the supermarket.
I won the race because I was motivated.
2. the time, place or other details are “When did you read Tom Sawyer?”
asked about. “I read it ten years ago.”
“Who told you about the book?”
“My brother.”
3. the time, place, or other details about “Have you found your keys yet?”
the event become definite following a “Yes, I have.”
question and answer in the present perfect “Where were they?”
tense. “In my handbag.”
4. the event clearly occurred at a definite The train was five minutes late.
time in the past event if the time is not
mentioned.
5. there is a sequence of completed past Bill asked me out last night. We went and
events (narrative use) saw a movie. Then we had dinner at a
Chinese restaurant.

*HABITUAL, REPETITIVE ACTIONS IN THE PAST

AHBITUAL, REPETITIVE ACTIONS EXAMPLES
IN THE PAST
1.Simple past tense – habitual, repetitive Walt Disney’s daughters rode bikes on the
actions in the past, often with: always, studio lots on the weekends – while Walt
usually, never, etc [neutral] worked.
2. Used to + verb – a past habit or state, Since Walt spared no expense to make his
an action or state characterizing a person picture better, we used to have arguments
or thing in the past [contrasted to the over finances.
present]
3. Would + verb – habitual, repetitive Whenever an employee didn’t work out
actions in the past, often with: whenever in one job, Walt would try to find a job
or every time [not necessarily a contrast for which the person was better suited.
to the present]