Monday, April 18, 2011
Simple Past: Forming the Simple Past, Part 1
Forming the Simple Past, sometimes called the Preterite tense, is really pretty easy… at least for regular verbs.
You take the subject, follow it with the verb ending in –ed and there you have it.
You take the subject, follow it with the verb ending in –ed and there you have it.
Example:Subject + verb + -edI + play + ed
I played
And, to make it easier, the Simple Past form is invariable – that means it doesn’t change no matter what subject you use. Let’s look at the verb ‘to play’, in the Simple Past it would look like this:
I played
You played
He, she, it played
We played
You played
They played
A couple of things to watch out for:
- Verbs ending in a consonant + y, like cry and try: drop the y and add ied.
- Verbs ending in e like receive only need to have the ‘d’ added – received.
For the irregular verbs in English it is a bit more difficult and you will need to learn most of the most often used ones. There is a full list of irregular verbs with their past form on English4Today.
Now, before moving to the next video where we talk about when to use the Simple Past why don’t you try a couple of verbs your self. Just complete the sentence with the verb in the Simple Past:
STUDY —–> ?
Now, before moving to the next video where we talk about when to use the Simple Past why don’t you try a couple of verbs your self. Just complete the sentence with the verb in the Simple Past:
STUDY —–> ?
They studied English in 2006 – notice that this is a verb that ends in a consonsant + y so we have dropped the y and added ed.
One more, PLAY—–> ?
Tim played golf when he was at university.
In Video Part 2 we will look at making the Interrogative and Negative of the Simple Past and then in Video Part 3 we will look at WHEN we use the Simple Past.
Useful Links:
Simple past : Negative form
To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ - that is ‘Forming the Negative of the simple past
To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ - that is ‘did‘ + ‘not‘ + the infinitive of the verb you want to use. For example - I did not play.
We often contract did and not into one word - didn’t – for example:
I didn’t play
They didn’t play
She didn’t play
Notice that did and didn’t are invariable – they do not change no matter which pronoun you use.
The Same rule applies for irregular verbs:
Let’s look at leave,come and teach:
I didn’t leave
We didn’t come
He didn’t teach
Here’s an example with the very common irregular verb ‘to go’
She went to school yesterday.
Becomes in the negative:
She did not go to school yesterday.
Remember that ‘went’ is the past form of ‘go‘. I went I didn’t go
Regular verbs:
Very simple!
She talked to Martin last week.
She did not talk to Martin last week.
You try…
Make the sentences with the negative Simple Past
They studied English in 2006.
Tim played golf when he was at university.
(answers below)
See also
English4Today Grammar: Simple Past section
Answers:
They did not study ..
Tim did not play…
To form the negative of a sentence in the Simple Past you need to use the past form of the auxiliary verb ‘do’ - that is ‘did‘ + ‘not‘ + the infinitive of the verb you want to use. For example - I did not play.
We often contract did and not into one word - didn’t – for example:
I didn’t play
They didn’t play
She didn’t play
Notice that did and didn’t are invariable – they do not change no matter which pronoun you use.
The Same rule applies for irregular verbs:
Let’s look at leave,come and teach:
I didn’t leave
We didn’t come
He didn’t teach
Here’s an example with the very common irregular verb ‘to go’
She went to school yesterday.
Becomes in the negative:
She did not go to school yesterday.
Remember that ‘went’ is the past form of ‘go‘. I went I didn’t go
Regular verbs:
Very simple!
She talked to Martin last week.
She did not talk to Martin last week.
You try…
Make the sentences with the negative Simple Past
They studied English in 2006.
Tim played golf when he was at university.
(answers below)
See also
English4Today Grammar: Simple Past section
Answers:
They did not study ..
Tim did not play…
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Singular or Plural?
Instructions: Choose the correct answer.
Q1 - Glasses
SingularPluralQ2 - News
Countable- singularCountable- pluralUncountableQ3 - Scissors
SingularPluralQ4 - Police
SingularPluralQ5 - Oxen
SingularPluralQ6 - Criterion
SingularPluralQ7 - Criteria
SingularPluralQ8 - People
SingularPluralQ9 - We use 'amount' with...
Countable- singularCountable- pluralUncountableQ10 - 'A number of' is followed by a _____ verb.
singularpluralQ11 - 'The number of' is followed by a _____ verb.
singularpluralPlurals- Compound Nouns
Instructions: Choose the correct answer.
Q1 - Which is the correct plural?
Passer-bysPassers-byEither could be usedQ2 - Which is the correct plural?
LaysbyLaybysEither could be usedQ3 - Which is the correct plural?
Mother-in-lawsMothers-in-lawEither could be usedQ4 - Which is the correct plural?
Shoes shopShoe shopsEither could be usedQ5 - Which is the correct plural?
Woman judgesWomen judgeWomen judgesQ6 - Which is the correct plural?
Travels agencyTravel agencysTravel agenciesQ7 - Which is the correct plural?
Bus stationsBuses stationBuses stationsQ8 - Which is the correct plural?
Antique shopsAntiques shopAntiques shopsQ9 - Which is the correct plural?
Physic teachersPhysics teacherPhysics teachersQ10 - Which is the correct plural?
Runner-upRunners-upRunners-ups
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