Grammar - Tenses - Simple Past Tense
Simple Past Tense
we use simple past tense
when we want to talk about single complete events that happened in the past at a definite time
to talk about repeated events or habits in the
past
talk about actions that continued for some time
in the past but now finished.
Once
again Kurulu joins with us to
continue our discussions on Grammar especially
on Past Tense
Let’s
begin
This is
Kurulu. She lives
in a beautiful village. This village is situated near the beach. Therefore she goes to this beach every weekend. Last weekend she went to the beach again. She did not go there alone. She visited the beach with her family. When she was at
the beach the sun shone brightly in the sky.
They all enjoyed at
the beach because it was a sunny day. Vihanga,
her elder brother flew kites. He loved it very much. His little brother Pavan rode a pony. Her father walked
beside him. Was Pavan happy? Yes. Pavan enjoyed the ride happily. Her friends also joined them in that visit as usual. Her friends
Smanali and Sepalika built sand castles. Those
castles were very beautiful. Kokila and
Pavan played with a ball. Kokila threw the ball and
Pavan caught it. Sandaras collected sea shells. After building sand castles
Samanali and Seplaika bathed in the sea. What did Kurulu do
when she was at the beach? Did she swim in
the sea? No, Kurulu sat and watched the rolling waves in the sea. After that
she collected seashells on the beach. They didn’t idle a single moment. Their mother waited sitting on
a rock. She watched them at play. An
ice-cream seller sold ice cream. He sold different kinds of ice-cream. A Kadala vendor
also sold Kadala. Where
was the kadala vendor? He was under a
tree. Children ran to buy ice-cream and
kadala. The sun set and they all went
back home. That Sunday was not a dull day. It
was an enjoyable day.
This
paragraph tells us what Kurulu and her family did at the beach last week end.
We use
Simple Past Tense
to talk
about
things happened in the past time and
or
past habits
The
above story also tells us about how Kurulu, her family and her
friends spend their last week end which is already over.
To
describe their routine during the last weekend we use simple past tense.
Look at
the following sentences again paying attention to the highlighted verbs
She went to this beach last weekend.
She did not go there alone.
She visited the beach with her family.
The sun
shone brightly in the sky.
They
all enjoyed at
the beach because it was a sunny day.
Vihanga,
her elder brother flew kites.
He loved it very much.
His
little brother Pavan rode a pony.
Her
father walked beside him.
Was Pavan happy?
Yes. Pavan enjoyed the ride happily.
Her
friends also joined them in that visit as
usual.
Her
friends Smanali and Sepalika built sand
castles.
Those castles
were very beautiful.
Kokila
and Pavan played with a ball.
Kokila threw the ball and
Pavan caught it.
Sandaras collected sea shells.
Samanali
and Seplaika bathed in the sea.
What did Kurulu do
when she was at the beach?
Did she swim in
the sea?
Kurulu sat and watched the
rolling waves in the sea.
She collected seashells on the beach.
They didn’t idle a single moment.
Their mother
waited sitting on
a rock.
She watched them at play.
An
ice-cream seller sold ice cream.
A
Kadala vendor also sold Kadala.
Where was the kadala vendor?
He was under a tree.
Children
ran to buy ice-cream and kadala.
The sun
set and they
all went back home.
That
Sunday was not a dull day
It was an enjoyable day.
All these sentences talk about
Actions happened
She went the beach last weekend.
The sun
shone brightly in the sky.
Actions did not happened
She did not go there alone.
They didn’t idle a single
moment.
We can also ask
Questions about actions happened
What did Kurulu do when she was at the
beach?
Did she swim in the sea?
Remember!
Not only
the actions
we can also say and ask
something about someone or something
or
being
He was under a tree.
It was a sunny day.
Those castles
were very beautiful.
That
Sunday was not a dull day
It was an enjoyable day.
Where was the kadala vendor?
Where was the kadala vendor?
Do you notice any difference in the use of the
verb?
Yes,
there is a difference.
Some
sentences used action verbs
Kokila
and Pavan played
with a ball.
Kokila threw
the ball and Pavan caught
it.
And in some did not before the verb.
She did not go there alone.
They do not idle a single moment.
But some
others used auxiliary verbs
He was
under a tree.
It was an
enjoyable day.
Those castles
were
very beautiful.
And in some was/were not before the verb.
She was not there alone.
They were not beautiful .
So we need to learn the reason for these differences
Next we
are going to learn the reason.
For
that we need to learn how the simple past sentences are formed.
Let’s
learn that
Let’s look at how Simple Past Tense sentences are formed.
When talking about actions happen we use
Subject + Verb + Object / Adverbial
(Past form)
She visited the
beach with her family.
Kurulu collected seashells on the beach.
More
examples
 |
| Vihanga flew kites at the beach. |
Her brother played with a ball.
 |
| Ice cram seller sold ice cream. |
But
if we talk something
about somebody or something in the past
we use
Subject + auxiliary
verb + Compliment / Adverbial
(was/were)
If
Subject Singular + was + Compliment / Adverbial
The Kadala vendor was
under a tree.
Subject Plural + were + Compliment/Adverbial
Those
castles were very beautiful.
More examples
The Kadala vendor was at the beach.
The children were very happy.
More examples
The Kadala vendor was at the beach.
The children were very happy.
Remember!
When we use a pronoun as the subject,
If the subject is I we use the helping verb was
If the subject is He, She and It we use the helping verb was
If the subject is You, We and They we use the helping verb were
We also add ed, d, ied & t at the end of the verb when forming
the verb in the simple past form
We add ed to most of the verbs when making the past form.
wait - waited
join - joined
collect -collected
watch - watched
When do we add d?
We add d when the verb ends in e
Examples
prepare - prepared
share -shared
care - cared
bathe – bathed
When do we add ied?
When the verb ends in y and followed by a consonant
we drop y
and add ied
cry -
cried
hurry-
hurried
burry-
buried
Carry-
carried
marry -
married
But we keep y and add ed when the verb ends in y followed by a vowel
play - played
delay - delayed
employ
-
employed
stay
- stayed
There are some unusual verbs in English
They never follow the above rule
What are they? They are
say
pay
lay
They are made in the past
said paid laid
In some English verbs t is added after the base form
learn - learnt
burn - burnt
meant - meant
send - sent
spend - spent
These verbs are called regular or weak
verbs because they take the same pattern or regular when forming the past
tense.
There are also strong verbs or irregular
verbs
How do
they take their past form?
In some words the vowel sound is changed
come - came
meet - met
run - ran
Some take a completely different word
do - did
go – went
Some take the same word
cut - cut
put –put
shut – shut
hit - hit
More examples
Activity 2
Fill the blanks with the past simple form of the verb. Use the verb stems in the brackets.
1. Kurulu’s mother …………………… rolling waves.(watch)
2. The birds …………………. in the sky.(fly)
3. Pavan …………… the ball. (throw)
4. Kurulu’s father ……..…... her brother to fly the kite.( teach)
5. Sometimes a child ………………. for ice-cream.(cry)
6. Kurulu usually …….……… to collect most beautiful shells. (try)
When talking about actions that did not happen
(negative form) we use
did not
Subject + did no + Verb+Object / Adverbial (infinitive)
She did not go
there alone.
More examples
More examples
|
| Vihanga did not ride a pony at the beach. |
Her brother did not play with a bat.
The ice cream seller did not sell cool drinks.
When talking about something about someone or
something
or expressing
being
we use
Subject +was/were +not + Compliment/Adverbial
It was not an enjoyable day.
Those castles
were not very beautiful.
More examples
Kurulu was not sad.
Kurulu and her friends were not at the park.
Do the following activities
Activity 3
Change the following sentences in to negative form.
1. The birds flew in the sky.
2. Kurulu’s mother made sand castles.
3. Kurulu collected sea shells.
4. The ice-cream seller sold cool drinks at the beach.
5. Vihanga bought kites.
6. You built the sand castles well.
7. I came to the beach by my car.
8. They enjoyed the day at the beach.
9. Pavan
Flew kites with his brother.
10. Kurulu’s
father took Pavan on a horse ride.
Activity 4
1. Write the following sentences in negative form.
a My father was at the bus stand.
b.
The teacher was at the office.
c.
The children were very excited.
d.
My mother was worried.
e.
He was a student in my school.
f.
My sister was tall.
g.
The poor child was hungry.
h.
The players were tired.
i.
My friend was sick.
j.
My sister was a student at my school then.
Yes, No questions
When asking about actions happen (interrogative
form) we use
Did
We form ‘yes, no’ questions in
the present simple by adding the auxiliary
Did before the subject
of the verb.
What
are ‘yes, no’ questions?
They
are the questions which get either yes or no as the answer.
If the subject is
either singular, or plural if we ask
about one person or more than one person we use
Did + Subject + Verb + Object / Adverbial (infinitive)
Did she go to the beach last week end?
Yes, she did.
Yes, she went to the beach last weekend.
Did she go to the beach alone?
No , she did not.
No , she did not go to the beach.
Did they fly kites?
Yes, they did.
Yes, they flew kites.
Did the children buy kites?
No, they didn’t.
No, the children did not buy kites.
More examples
Did Pavan enjoy the ride?
Yes, he enjoyed the ride.
Did mother eat an ice-cream?
No, she did not eat an ice-cream.
Did Vihanga fly a kite?
Yes, he is flew a kite.
Activity 4
Make questions to get the following as the answers.
- Yes, the birds flew in the sky.
- No, kurulu’s mother did not make sand castles.
- Yes, Kurulu collected sea shells.
- No, the ice-cream seller did not sell cool drinks.
- Yes, Vihanga flew a kite.
- Yes, you built the sand castles well.
- No, I did not come to the beach on weekends.
- No, the children did not do sun bathing.
When talking about something about someone or
something
or expressing
being
we use
Was /were +
Subject + Compliment / Adverbial
Was Pavan happy?
Yes , he was.
Yes , he was happy.
Were they at the beach?
Yes, they were.
Yes, they were at the beach.
Yes, they were at the beach.
More examples
|
Were they happy.
Yes, they were happy.
No, he was not sad. Do the following activities Activity 1 Make questions to get the following as the answers. 1. Yes, the birds were in the nest. 2. No, my sister was not in my school. 3. Yes, the kites were in the sky. 4. No, Kurulu’s mother was not a seamstress before. 5. Yes, Kurulu was very happy to have beautiful sea shells. 6. No, the ice-cream seller was not under the tree. 7. Yes, Vihanga was our class monitor last year. 8. Yes, the sand castles were very beautiful. 9. No, Kurulu and her family was not at the beach on weekends. 10. No, the children were not at the beach. |
Information questions
We form ‘information’ questions in
the past simple
by adding a question word before the auxiliary did before the subject of the verb.
What
are ‘information’ questions?
They
are the questions which get certain information as the answer.
If the subject is
either singular or plural or if we ask about one person or more than one person we use we use did after the question word
When asking information questions we use a question word according to the information we want.
Example
if we want to know about:
someone - Who
something - What
a place - Where
Example
if we want to know about:
someone - Who
something - What
a place - Where
Question
word + did + Subject + Verb + Adverbial
(infinitive)
Where did she go last
week end?
She went to the beach last weekend.
What did she collect
at the beach?
She collected seashells at the beach.
More examples
Where did she go with her friends every week end?
She went to the beach with her friends every weekend.
What did she collect at the beach?
She collected seashells at the beach.
Where did they go every week end?
They went to the beach every weekend.
What did the children collect at the beach?
The children collected seashells at the beach.
 Do the following activities
Activity 5
Make questions to get the highlighted word or phrase as the answers.
1. The birds flew in the sky.
2. Kurulu’s mother did not make sand castles.
3. Kurulu collected sea shells.
4. The ice-cream seller sold ice-cream at the beach.
5. Vihanga bought two kites.
6. You built the sand castles well.
7. I came to the beach by my car.
8. They enjoyed a lot because it was a sunny day.
|
More
examples
Where did mother sit at the beach?
She sat on a rock.
What did pavan ride?
Pavan rode a pony.
Let's watch this video.
Let's watch this video.
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