Use the simple
past tense to talk about things that happened in the past. The simple past
tense is also used to talk about things that happened in stories. For
example:
The
wicked Queen gave Snow White a poisoned apple.
Pinocchio’s
nose grew longer every time he told a lie.
Dinosaurs
lived millions of years ago.
I bought
a new camera last week.
Joe learned
to play the guitar very quickly.
We drove
to the safari park last weekend.
The
giant panda gave birth to a cub last night.
Yesterday
Dad took me to the carnival.
The
plane landed a few minutes ago.
The
children visited a farm during the holidays.
Who invented
the computer?
Jack
and Jill went up the hill.
Little
Red Riding Hood decided to visit her grandmother.
The Three Bears found Goldilocks
asleep in their house.
REGULAR AND IRREGULAR VERBS
The
simple past tense of most verbs ends in -ed. These verbs are called regular
verbs.
Base
Form - Simple Past
aim -
aimed
bake
- baked
open
- opened
happen
- happened
pull
- pulled
push
- pushed
scold
- scolded
shout
- shouted
visit
- visited
wait
- waited
walk
- walked
work – worked
For example:
Mom opened
the door for us.
Sally
petted the dog.
That
event happened long ago.
We visited
our uncle last week.
They
walked to school together yesterday.
They
worked until twelve last night.
Dad tried
to fix the light.
William Tell aimed at the apple
on his son’s head.
Who closed
all the windows?
It snowed last night.
The simple past
tense is usually formed by adding –ed to the verb. For example:
jump
+ ed = jumped lift + ed = lifted
laugh
+ ed = laughed look + ed = looked
4 If
the verb ends with -e, just add -d. For example:
agree
+ d = agreed hate + d = hated
die
+ d = died live + d = lived
Remember these
spelling rules:
You must double
the last letter of some verbs before adding -ed. For example:
fan
+ ed = fanned pat + ed = patted
grab
+ ed = grabbed rip + ed = ripped
nod
+ ed = nodded slam + ed = slammed
Notice that the
verbs above are all short verbs of just one syllable. They all end with a consonant
such as b, d, m, n, p, t, and have only a single vowel before the consonant.
With
verbs that end in -y, change the y to i before adding -ed. For example:
bury
+ ed = buried fry + ed = fried
carry
+ ed = carried hurry + ed = hurried
cry + ed = cried try + ed = tried
The simple past
form of some verbs does not end in -ed. Such verbs are called irregular verbs. The
simple past tense of some irregular verbs does not change at all.
Base
Form - Simple Past
beat
- beat
burst
- burst
cost
- cost
cut -
cut
hit -
hit
hurt
- hurt
put -
put
read
- read
split
- split
shut - shut
David
hurt his foot when he jumped over the drain.
The
worker cut down the tree this morning.
Her ring cost only 10 dollars.
He hit
the ball over the net.
Dad read
to us last night.
He shut
the door.
I put
some sugar in my coffee.
Most irregular
verbs, however, take a different form in the simple past tense.
Base
Form - Simple Past
bend
- bent
break
- broke
bring
- brought
buy -
bought
fall
- fell
fly -
flew
get -
got
hear
- heard
keep
- kept
lose
- lost
sell
- sold
shoot
- shot
sleep - slept
Sam bent the stick in two.
Tom shot and scored a goal.
I lost
my pen on the bus.
We sold
our car last week.
The
baby slept right thought the night.
Peter
got a watch for his birthday.
I heard
a noise in the night.
He brought
his pet mouse to school.
My book fell off the desk.
A
bird flew into the classroom.
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