Past tense review

Simple Past Tense: Regular Verbs

  • Definition and Function:

    • The simple past tense is used to talk about activities or situations that began and ended in the past at a specific time (e.g., yesterday, last night, two days ago, in 20152015).

  • Formation of Regular Simple Past Verbs:

    • For most regular verbs, the simple past tense is formed by adding −ed-ed to the base form of the verb.

    • Examples:

      • Mary walked downtown yesterday.

      • I stayed home last weekend.

      • Bob played tennis yesterday evening.

      • Our plane landed on time last night.

    • Spelling Exception: Verbs ending in a consonant plus −y-y change the −y-y to −ied-ied (e.g., study becomes studied, worry becomes worried).

  • Grammatical Sentence Patterns (Regular Verbs):

    • Statements:

      • Pattern: Subject + verb ending in −ed-ed

      • Forms: I walked, You walked, He walked, She walked, It walked, We walked, They walked.

    • Negatives:

      • Pattern: Subject + did not (didn't) + base form of verb

      • Forms: I did not (didn't) walk, You did not (didn't) walk, He did not (didn't) walk, She did not (didn't) walk, It did not (didn't) walk, We did not (didn't) walk, They did not (didn't) walk.

    • Questions:

      • Pattern: Did + subject + base form of verb?

      • Forms: Did I walk?, Did you walk?, Did he walk?, Did she walk?, Did it walk?, Did we walk?, Did they walk?

    • Short Answers:

      • Affirmative: Yes, [pronoun] did.

      • Negative: No, [pronoun] did not (didn't).

Expressing Past Time: Irregular Verbs and Be Verbs

  1. Irregular Verb Overview:

    • Many verbs have irregular past forms that do not take −ed-ed.

    • Examples:

      • I ate breakfast this morning. (eat →\rightarrow ate)

      • Sue took a taxi to the airport yesterday. (take →\rightarrow took)

  2. Grammatical Sentence Patterns (Irregular Verbs):

    • Statements: Subject + irregular past verb (e.g., I / You / He / She / It / We / They left.)

    • Negatives: Subject + did not (didn't) + base form (e.g., I / You / He / She / It / We / They did not leave.)

    • Questions: Did + subject + base form? (e.g., Did I / you / he / she / it / we / they leave?)

    • Short Answers: Yes, she did. / No, it did not (didn't).

  3. Forms and Structure of the Verb 'Be' in Simple Past:

    1. The simple past forms of be are was and were.

    2. Examples:

      • I was sick yesterday.

      • They were at home last night.

    3. Singular Subjects (I, He, She, It):

      1. Statement: Subject + was + complement (e.g., He was nice.)

      2. Negative: Subject + was not (wasn't) + complement (e.g., She was not nice.)

Question: Was + subject + complement? (e.g., *