|
CHAPTER 5. THE SIMPLE PAST |
1. Uses of the simple past
The uses of the Simple Past are somewhat similar to the uses of the
Simple Present, except that past states or actions are expressed. In
the examples given below, the verbs in the Simple Past are underlined.
For instance, the Simple Past can be used to express actions which
occurred at regular intervals in the past.
e.g. Last year I
drove to Yarmouth once a week.
In addition, the Simple Past is used to describe situations which
existed for a period of time in the past.
e.g. Millions of years ago, dinosaurs
inhabited the earth.
George Washington
was the first president of the United States.
The Simple Past is also used to express non-continuous actions which
occurred at a definite time in the past.
e.g. Columbus
reached America in 1492.
I
graduated from school last year.
2. Formation of the simple past
a. The verb To Be
The Simple Past of the verb
to be is conjugated as follows:
| I was |
| you were |
| he was |
| she was |
| it was |
| we were |
| they were |
See
Exercise 1.
i. Questions and negative statements
The Simple Present and Simple Past
of the verb
to be do not use auxiliaries to form questions and negative
statements. Instead, the verb itself is used.
The verb
to be forms questions and negative statements in the same way
in the Simple Past as in the Simple Present. In order to form a
question,
the verb is placed before the subject. For example:
| Affirmative Statement | Question |
| I was awake. | Was I awake? |
| They were ready. | Were they ready? |
In order to form a
negative statement, the word
not is placed after
the verb. For example:
| Affirmative Statement | Negative Statement |
| I was awake. | I was not awake. |
| They were ready. | They were not ready. |
In spoken English, the following contractions are often used:
| Without Contractions | With Contractions |
| was not | wasn't |
| were not | weren't |
In order to form a
negative question, the verb is placed before the
subject, and the word
not is placed after the subject. However, when
contractions are used, the contracted form of
not immediately follows
the verb. For example:
| Without Contractions | With Contractions |
| Was I not awake? | Wasn't I awake? |
| Were they not ready? | Weren't they ready? |
In order to form
tag questions, the verb itself is used. In the
following examples, the negative tag questions are underlined.
Contractions are usually used in negative tag questions.
| Affirmative Statement | Affirmative Statement with Tag Question |
| | |
| I was awake. | I was awake, wasn't I? |
| They were ready. | They were ready, weren't they? |
See
Exercise 2.
b. Other verbs
English verbs other than the verb
to be have the same form in the
Simple Past, regardless of the subject.
In the case of
regular English verbs, the Simple Past has the same form
as the past participle. For example, the Simple Past of the regular
verb
to work is conjugated as follows:
| I worked |
| you worked |
| he worked |
| she worked |
| it worked |
| we worked |
| they worked |
See
Exercise 3.
In the case of
irregular English verbs, the form of the Simple Past must
be memorized. As illustrated by the examples below, for some irregular
verbs, the Simple Past is the same as the past participle; whereas for
others, the Simple Past differs from the past participle. A table of
140 common English irregular verbs is provided. For example:
| Bare Infinitive | Simple Past | Past Participle |
| begin | began | begun |
| find | found | found |
| go | went | gone |
| let | let | let |
| take | took | taken |
Like the regular verbs, irregular verbs other than the verb
to be do
not modify in the Simple Past, but have the same form, regardless of the
subject. For example, the Simple Past of the irregular verb
to take
is conjugated as follows:
| I took |
| you took |
| he took |
| she took |
| it took |
| we took |
| they took |
See
Exercise 4.
i. Questions and negative statements
In both the Simple Present and the
Simple Past of verbs other than the verb
to be, questions and negative
statements are formed using the auxiliary
to do and the bare infinitive.
For questions and negative statements in the Simple Past, the Simple
Past of the auxiliary
to do is used. The Simple Past of
to do is
conjugated as follows:
| I did |
| you did |
| he did |
| she did |
| it did |
| we did |
| they did |
In order to change an affirmative statement into a
question,
did is
placed before the subject, and the form of the verb is changed from the
Simple Past to the bare infinitive. In the following example, the regular
verb
to work is used. The verb
to work has the Simple Past
worked,
and the bare infinitive
work.
| Affirmative Statement | Question |
| I worked. | Did I work? |
| You worked. | Did you work? |
| He worked. | Did he work? |
| She worked. | Did she work? |
| It worked. | Did it work? |
| We worked. | Did we work? |
| They worked. | Did they work? |
See
Exercise 5.
In order to change an affirmative statement into a
negative statement,
did not is placed after the subject, and the form of the verb is
changed to the bare infinitive. In the following example, the irregular
verb
to speak is used. The verb
to speak has the bare infinitive
speak and the Simple Past
spoke.
| Affirmative Statement | Negative Statement |
| I spoke. | I did not speak. |
| You spoke. | You did not speak. |
| He spoke. | He did not speak. |
| She spoke. | She did not speak. |
| It spoke. | It did not speak. |
| We spoke. | We did not speak. |
| They spoke. | They did not speak. |
See
Exercise 6.
In spoken English, the following contraction is often used:
| Without Contraction | With Contraction |
| did not | didn't |
In order to change an affirmative statement into a
negative Question,
did is placed before the subject,
not is placed after the subject,
and the form of the verb is changed to the bare infinitive. However,
when contractions are used, the contracted form of
not follows
immediately after the auxiliary
did. For example:
| Without Contractions | With Contractions |
| Did I not work? | Didn't I work? |
| Did you not work? | Didn't you work? |
| Did he not work? | Didn't he work? |
| Did she not work? | Didn't she work? |
| Did it not work? | Didn't it work? |
| Did we not work? | Didn't we work? |
| Did they not work? | Didn't they work? |
Tag questions are formed using the auxiliary
did. In the following
examples, the negative tag questions are underlined. Contractions are
usually used in negative tag questions.
| Affirmative Statement | Affirmative Statement with Tag Question |
| I worked. | I worked, didn't I? |
| You worked. | You worked, didn't you? |
| He worked. | He worked, didn't he? |
| She worked. | She worked, didn't she? |
| It worked. | It worked, didn't it? |
| We worked. | We worked, didn't we? |
| They worked. | They worked, didn't they? |
See
Exercise 7.
3. The simple past of To Use followed by an infinitive
The Simple Past of the verb
to use, followed by an infinitive, generally
refers to something which took place repeatedly or continuously in the
past, but which no longer takes place.
In the following examples, the Simple Past of
to use is printed in
bold type, and the infinitives which follow it are underlined. The
Simple Past of
to use is
used.
e.g. The ferry used
to operate every day.
We used
to live on Duke Street.
In the first example, the use of
used followed by the infinitive
indicates that in the past the ferry operated every day, but now it
does not operate every day. In the second example, the use of
used
followed by the infinitive indicates that in the past we lived on Duke
Street, but now we do not live on Duke Street.
See
Exercise 8.
