martes, 26 de noviembre de 2013

SIMPLE PAST

SIMPLE PAST


FORM

[VERB+ed] or irregular verbs

Examples:
·       You called Debbie.
·       Did you call Debbie?
·       You did not call Debbie.


USE 1 Completed Action in the Past

Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.

Examples:

·       saw a movie yesterday.
·       didn't see a play yesterday.
·       Last year, I traveled to Japan.
·       Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.
·       Did you have dinner last night?
·       She washed her car.
·       He didn't wash his car.


USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions

We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.

Examples
:
·       finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
·       He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00.
·       Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs?


USE 3 Duration in Past

The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.

Examples:

·       lived in Brazil for two years.
·       Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
·       They sat at the beach all day.
·       They did not stay at the party the entire time.
·       We talked on the phone for thirty minutes.
·       A: How long did you wait for them?
B: We waited for one hour.


USE 4 Habits in the Past

The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.

Examples:

·       studied French when I was a child.
·       He played the violin.
·       He didn't play the piano.
·       Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
·       She worked at the movie theater after school.
·       They never went to school, they always skipped class.


USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations

The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression "used to."

Examples:

·       She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
·       He didn't like tomatoes before.
·       Did you live in Texas when you were a kid?
·       People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past.


IMPORTANT When-Clauses Happen First

Clauses are groups of words which have meaning but are often not complete sentences. Some clauses begin with the word "when" such as "when I dropped my pen..." or "when class began..." These clauses are called when-clauses, and they are very important. The examples below contain when-clauses.

Examples:

·       When I paid her one dollar, she answered my question.
·       She answered my question when I paid her one dollar.

When-clauses are important because they always happen first when both clauses are in the Simple Past. Both of the examples above mean the same thing: first, I paid her one dollar, and then, she answered my question. It is not important whether "when I paid her one dollar" is at the beginning of the sentence or at the end of the sentence. However, the example below has a different meaning. First, she answered my question, and then, I paid her one dollar.

Example:

·       I paid her one dollar when she answered my question.


ADVERB PLACEMENT

The examples below show the placement for grammar adverbs such as: always, only, never, ever, still, just, etc.

Examples:

·       You just called Debbie.
·       Did you just call Debbie?


ACTIVE / PASSIVE

Examples:

·       Tom repaired the car. Active
·       The car was repaired by Tom. Passive


PAST OF VERB TO BE

PAST OF VERB TO BE



The past tense of "to be" is used to join a subject with a word or words that tell something about the subject that happened in the past. We often use words such as "yesterday" or phrases such as "last week" or "last year" to indicate when something happened in the past .

The verb "be" is an irregular verb. We use "was" with a singular pronoun or noun and "were" with a plural pronoun or noun. An exception to this is the pronoun "you" which always uses "were".


To Be - Affirmative

Subject
To Be
Examples
I
was
was tired this morning.
You
were
You were very good.
He
was
He was the best in his class.
She
was
She was late for work.
It
was
It was a sunny day.
We
were
We were at home.
You
were
You were on holiday.
They
were
They were happy with their test results.



To Be - Negative Sentences

The negative of To Be can be made by adding not after the verb (was or were).


Subject
To Be
Examples
I
was not
was not tired this morning.
You
were not
You were not crazy.
He
was not
He was not married.
She
was not
She was not famous.
It
was not
It was not hot yesterday.
We
were not
We were not invited.
You
were not
You were not at the party.
They
were not
They were not friends.

To Be - Negative Contractions

The can make negative contractions of the verb To Be in the Past tense by joining the verb (was or were) and n't (e.g. were not = weren't). We don't make a contraction of the subject and the verb (e.g. I was).

was not tired this morning.
OR
wasn't tired this morning.
You were not crazy.
OR
You weren't crazy.
He was not married.
OR
He wasn't married.
She was not famous.
OR
She wasn't famous.
It was not hot yesterday.
OR
It wasn't hot yesterday.
We were not invited.
OR
We weren't invited.
You were not at the party.
OR
You weren't at the party.
They were not friends.
OR
They weren't friends.
* Notice that we don't have contractions for To Be in Past Tense affirmative sentences.

To Be - Questions
To create questions with To Be, you put the Verb before the Subject.


Affirmative
You
were
happy.
Subject
Verb
Question
Were
you
happy?
Verb
Subject






Affirmative
Question
I was late
Was I late?
You were sick.
Were you sick?
He was surprised.
Was he surprised?
She was from Italy.
Was she from Italy?
It was a big house.
Was it a big house?
We were ready.
Were we ready?
You were early.
Were you early?
They were busy.
Were they busy?



To Be - Short Answers



Question
Short Answers**
Short Answers
Was I late?
Yes, you were.
No, you weren't.
Were you sick?
Yes, I was.
No, I wasn't.
Was he surprised?
Yes, he was.
No, he wasn't.
Was she from Italy?
Yes, she was.
No, she wasn't.
Was it a big house?
Yes, it was.
No, it wasn't.
Were we ready?
Yes, we were.
No, we weren't.
Were you early?
Yes, we were.
No, we weren't.
Were they busy?
Yes, they were.
No, they weren't.

In spoken English, we usually give short answers in response to questions.
Was he from Japan? - Yes, he was (from Japan). The last part (from Japan) is not necessary. We use shorts answers to avoid repetition, when the meaning is clear.