The Simple Past, rules and activities The principal use of the simple past: - It is used to speak about a finished action in the past Example: Algeria got its independence in 1962 - It is also used to tell a story that happened in the past, i.e, to narrate The simple past is used with the following time indicators: - In + a date in the past - Yesterday - Ago - Last+ night, week, month, year, century… There are two types of verbs when conjugated in the simple past:  Regular verbs: We call them regular because they have the same ending: “ed” in their simple past and past participle Egs: Infinitive Simple past To help helped To work worked To create created To happen happened So, we add: “ed” to a regular verb, or “d” Past participle helped worked created happened if the regular verb ends in “e”  Irregular verbs: We call them irregular because they don’t have the same ending, and we have to learn them by heart Egs: Infinitive Simple past Past participle To get Got Gotten To go went Gone To Did done To think Thought thought So, you notice that the endings are very different, very irregular Learn your irregular verbs by heart Activity 1: Put the verbs between brackets in the correct tense: a In 2003, a terrible earthquake (to happen) in Algeria b Two weeks ago, my friend (to buy) a new laptop It (to be) very expensive c Mohamed (to go) to London last week He (to win) a scholarship to continue his studies in medicine d In 1957, the USSR (to launch) Sputnik I The negative form: How de we form the negative of the simple past? Look at this example: Yesterday, I went to the supermarket Compare with this one: Yesterday, I didn’t go to the supermarket To form the negative, in the simple past, we use this rule: Did + not + stem Exception for the auxiliary “to be”: Eg: The weather was fine The weather was not fine Activity 2: transform the following sentences from the affirmative to the negative form: a I found this purse three days ago b She talked to her friend on the phone c I taught English in this school d He watched a nice film last night e The children were very noisy f He was tired The interrogative form: Read this sentence: A / wh/questions Sara went to the supermarket yesterday a b c - Ask questions to the underlined words: a Who went to the supermarket yesterday? b Where did Sara go yesterday? c When did Sara go to the supermarket? Remarks: Question a when we ask a question to get the subject of the sentence, this is the rule: Form: who/what for subject+ verb in the past+ the rest of the question + ? Question b and question c., when we ask questions for other information, this is the general rule: Form: wh/question + did+ subject+ stem + the rest of the question+? B/ Auxiliary Questions: Suppose I don’t know if Sara went to the supermarket or no To know this, I ask a yes/no question This is the question: Did Sara go the supermarket? The possible answers: - Yes, she did Or No, she didn’t The rule: Did + subject + stem + the rest of the question + ? Activity 3: Ask questions on the underlined words: Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492 The Americans dropped the first atomic bomb more than forty years ago Activity 4: Ask yes/no questions: The children went to the zoo 2 The pupils had their exam yesterday They told her the truth The girls sang a nice song Activity 5: Put the verbs between brackets into the correct tense and form: James Madison (to be)………… born in Virginia He (to have)………… eleven younger brothers and sisters He (to be)…… sick a lot when he (to be)…… a child and the family (to hire)…………… a private tutor to teach him until he (to be) 11 Then he (to go)……… to a boarding school which (to be)……… 70 miles from his home There he (to spend)…… five years studying Latin, Greek, French, Italian, algebra, geometry and geography When he (to be)…… 18 he (to enter)………… college He (to study)………… hard and (to finish)………… college in two years instead of three After he (to graduate)……… , he (not/to know)………… what he(to want)………… to He could go back to the family plantation and farm, or he could become a minister He (to think) about becoming a lawyer He would just keep studying Text taken from: http://www.gardenofpraise.com/index.htm