Past Simple: general review

As we finished the introduction of both regulars and some irregulars, you are now ready to do some exercises combining both. First of all, have a look at this interactive book:

Remember:

* We use past simple to describe past actions, for example, what did they do yesterday? Complete this exercise

*Past simple is necessary when describing someone’s life; do you like football? Here you are Ronaldo’s and Messi’s biography to complete with past simple.

Past Simple: negative sentences + questions

Use the Simple Past to express an action that started and finished at a specific time in the past.

 

Signal words

yesterday, last week, a month ago, in 2002, … see previous post on it

I told you we have regular and irregular verbs in the past but negative sentences and questions are similar in both groups. Have a look at the explanation:

Negative sentences:

Use the auxiliary did (Simple Past of do). Remember all subjects take the same form of the verb.

regular verbs	irregular verbs
I did not play football.	I did not go to the supermarket.

NOTE: Short forms in negative sentences in the Simple Past are used quite often.

regular verbs	irregular verbs
I didn’t play football.	I didn’t go to the supermarket.

Questions: (Wh?) + did + subject + verb ? [ Remember formula (Qu) A+ S+I]Use the auxiliary did (Simple Past of do). Remember all subjects take the same form of the verb. .

regular verbs	irregular verbs
Did you play football?	Did I go to the supermarket?

 Now, find below some exercises to practise:

negative sentences:		1	2	3	4
questions:		0   1	2	3	4        5

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Source: EOI Elx

Past Time Expressions

Last month, we studied some prepositions of time. Now we are studying the past, it’s time to add some new expressions:

Time Expressions Often Used in the Past

last- used when speaking about the previous week, month or year

Example: They went on holiday last month.

yesterday- used when speaking about the previous day

Example: I was with my best friend yesterday.

ago- used when speaking about X days, weeks, months, years before. NOTE: ‘ago’ follows the number of days, weeks, etc.

Example: We went to Cleveland three weeks ago.

for- used with a period of time.

Example: We lived in Paris for three years.

when- used with a past time clause

Example: I played tennis when I was a teenager

And, of course, the prepositions of time we studied in January:

Example: She was in Merbourne in 1976.

 I was at school on Monday.

We were at home at 7pm.

Ready to try some exercises? Exercise 1, exercise 2, exercise3

Source: EOI Elx

The past simple: irregular verbs

Every language has irregular verbs and English is no exception ! Unfortunately there is no magic formula, you simply have to learn them by heart!

Here is a list. Try to learn the most useful ones first and then learn the others little by little.

Here is a game for you to practise and a crossword .

Some more activities:

regular or irregular verbs?

interactive exercise 1

interactive exercise 2

Finally a fantastic song by the Beatles

Source: EOI Elx

Past Simple: -ed pronunciation

In the Simple Past, we add -ed to regular verbs. But the question is: How do we pronounce the -ed?

The answer is: In 3 ways – / id/ or / t/ or / d/

* note that it is the sound that is important, not the letter or spelling. For example, “fax” ends in the letter “x” but the sound /s/; “like” ends in the letter “e” but the sound /k/.

If the verb ends in one of these sounds:		example :	-ed:	-ed pronunciation:	Do you add an extra syllable?
1.	/t/	want	wanted	/ id/	yes, the -e changes to [ɪ]
	/d/	end	ended
2.	/p/	stop	stopped	/ t/	no, the -e is silent.
	/f/	laugh	laughed
	/s/	fax	faxed
	/ʃ/	wash	washed
	/ʧ/	watch	watched
	/k/	like	liked
3.	all other sounds	play	played	/ d/
		follow	followed
		rain	rained

NEVER pronounce /ed/!!!  Whenever you see a word ending in –ed, visualize the “e” as crossed out, if you want to increase your chances of pronouncing it correctly!

Is it clear enough? What’s the final sound of the following verbs? Choose the right one here.

Do you need more practice? Choose the correct “ed” ending sound in these multiple choice exercises. Exercise 1 – Exercise 2 -  Exercise 3 – Exercise 4 – Exercise 5- Exercise 6. Don’t worry if you don’t know the meaning of some verbs, focus on their pronunciation.

Final Exam – Practice what you have learned by choosing the correct pronunciation for multiple words written in a paragraph.

Now you are ready to practise some listening. Try this site or this one and, finally, this onecombines present and past pronunciations.

Source: EOI Elx 

Past Simple: -ed spelling

We have two different groups to form the Simple Past:

You have to know all forms of the irregular verbs very well. For the Simple Past you need the form of the verb which can be found in the 2nd column of the table of the irregular verbs. Example: go – went.

90% of verbs are regular verbs so let’s start with regulars first.

Simply add -ed with regular verbs. Example: wait – waited

SPELLING EXCEPTIONS

Sometimes there are exceptions in spelling when adding -ed:

1) verbs with final stressed consonant +vowel+consonant–> double the consonant. Example: stop – stopped

If the final syllable of the word is not stressed, we do not double it. Example: listen- listened (Here we stress the first syllable, not the second.)

If the final consonant in the group consonant+vowel+consonant is x or w, we do not double the consonant. Examples: fix-fixed, show-showed

In British English we ALWAYS double one -l at the end of the word. Example: travel – travelled

2) verbs with -e at the end of the word –> add only -d. Example: love – loved

3) verbs ending in consonant+y –> change ‘y’ to ‘i’ +ed. Example: cry – cried

Careful! verbs ending in vowel +’y' –> add -ed as usual. Example:  play – played

Are you ready to use regular past forms? Try exercises 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.

Source: EOI Elx

The simple past: regular verbs

When you form the regular past tense in English you need to pay attention to two things: pronunciation and spelling.

PRONUNCIATION

To form the simple past you simply add -ed to the end of the infinitive and you have the simple past.

-ed can be pronounced in three different ways: /t/, /d/ and /id/.

“T” is a voiceless consonant what we called “sorda” in Spanish that means you will feel no vibration in your throat, just a short explosion of air as you pronounce. These are some voiceless consonants : p, t, k, s, sh, ch, th (as in thing)

“D” is a voiced consonant what we called “sonora” in Spanish that means you feel a vibration in your throat when you pronounce it. These are some voiced consonants : b, d, th (as in then), v, l, r, z, j (as in Jane)

Vowels are always voiced.

If a verb ends in t or d then the -ed will be pronounced as a whole new syllable /id/

So the sound of the past : -ed will assimilate the sound of the preceding sound and so if it is a voiced sound the pronunciation of -ed will be voiced /d/ and if voiceless it will go to /t/.

To sum up, you have three options with the pronunciation of the regular past tense -ed: /t/, /d/ or /id/

Here you have a video to practise

and some interactive exercises:

Choose the right sound

Try again

Number 3

Nice one from the BBC

SPELLING

With most regular verbs, the simple past is created simply by adding -ed. However, with some verbs, you need to add -d or change the ending. Here are the rules:

Verb ending in…	How to make the simple past	Examples
e	Add -D	live  lived date  dated
Consonant +y	Change y to i, then add -ED	try  tried cry  cried
One vowel + one consonant (but NOT w or y)	Double the consonant, then add -ED	tap  tapped commit committed
anything else including w	Add -ED	boil  boiled fill  filled hand  handed show  showed

Source: EOI Elx