Past Simple
The first unit of the book "A time to remember" is mainly about the past or
memories. You are going to learn how to talk about past events properly.
Sometimes we need to share memories with friends or family members, to tell
stories from the past, to tell people what happened, or to tell people about our
past experiences. Past simple is the major tense to use when talking about the
past.
We use the past simple:
1. when we are talking about an event that happened at a particular time in the
past.
Examples:
We arrived home before dark.
The film started at seven thirty.
2. when we are talking about something that continued for some time in the
past.
Examples:
Everybody worked hard through the winter.
We stayed with our friends in London.
3. when we are talking about something that happened several times in the
past.
Examples:
Most evenings we stayed at home and watched DVDs.
Sometimes they went out for a meal.
How do we form the Past simple?
We form the past simple:
1. with regular verbs: infinitive + -ed.
(start – started, play – played, study – studied, stop – stopped)
2. with irregular verbs: 2nd column of the table of the irregular verbs.
(go – went, write – wrote, read – read, cut – cut)
Past Simple Vs. Present Perfect:
Sometimes it's really confusing to choose the correct tense between past
simple and present perfect.
"I did" or "I have done"?
If somebody says:
Tom lost his key. (past simple)
This means that Tom lost his key, but now he has found it. He has his key now.
If somebody says:
Tom has lost his key. (present perfect)
This means that he doesn't have his key right now.
More examples:
Compare ..
Shakespeare wrote many plays. (past simple)
My friend is a writer. He has written many short stories. (present perfect)
(My friend still writes short stories)
Don't use present perfect (I have done) when you talk about a finished time.
(yesterday, in 1995, when I was a kid)
Examples:
They arrived ten minutes ago. (not "have arrived")
I ate a lot of chocolates when I was a child. (not "have eaten")
Note: See the attached video which helps you more understand the difference
between the two tenses.
Forming a negative:
Negatives in the Past simple are formed by adding didn't (informal) or did
not (formal) before the base form of the verb.
Examples:
She invited me to the party. (affirmative)
She did not invite me to the party. (negative)
I saw Rose in the college yesterday. (affirmative)
I did not see Rose in the college yesterday. (negative)
We can also use never before the past form of the verb.
Examples:
Shakespeare wrote novels. (affirmative)
Shakespeare never wrote novels. (negative)
We talked about the project. (affirmative)
We never talked about the project. (negative)
Forming a yes/no question:
Yes/no questions are created by using the auxiliary did before the subject
which is followed by the base form of the verb.
Did + subject + the base form of the verb + comp.?
Examples:
She went to the theatre two days ago. (statement)
Did she go to the theatre two days ago? (yes/no question)
Yes, she did. Or
No, she did not (didn't).
You saw Jim this morning. (statement)
Did you see Jim this morning? (yes/no question)
Yes, I did. Or
No, I did not (didn't).
Forming an information question:
Information questions (also known as Wh- questions) are created by putting
the auxiliary did after the question word (What, When, etc) and before the
subject which is followed by the base form of the verb.
Question word + did + subject + the base form of the verb + comp.?
Examples:
He died in 1985. (statement)
When did he die? (information question)
They went to the zoo last Friday. (statement)
Where did the go last Friday? (information question)
The Past simple with "was" and "were":
We use was (past of is and am) or were (past of are) as main verbs to talk about
past facts or past states of being.
Examples:
Karachi was the first capital city of Pakistan before 1967.
I was tired this morning.
The children were on holiday last week.
Forming a negative:
Examples:
We form negatives by using not after was and were:
She was shy as a child. (affirmative)
She was not (wasn't) shy as a child. (negative)
Jessica and Kimberly were late for school yesterday. (affirmative)
Jessica and Kimberly were not (weren't) late for school yesterday. (negative)
We can also use never.
Examples:
I was always late for school when I was in high school. (affirmative)
I was never late for school when I was in high school. (negative)
They were noisy as children. (affirmative)
They were never noisy as children. (negative)
Forming a yes/no question:
To ask a yes/no question with was or were, move was or were before the
subject.
Examples:
He was 22 when he died. (statement)
Was he 22 when he died? (yes/no question)
Yes, he was. Or
No, he was not (wasn't)
The children were at home two hours ago. (statement)
Were the children at home two hours ago? (yes/no question)
Yes, they were. Or
No, they were not (weren't).
Forming an information question:
To ask an information question with was or were, move was or were before the
subject. Then add the question word at the beginning.
Examples:
The store was closed because the road was unsafe . (statement)
Why was the store closed? (information question)
They were at the café an hour ago. (statement)
Where were they an hour ago? (information question)
Good Luck
