PLATFORM ACTIVITY N2 WEEK 2 – 3RD PERIOD
NAME: ____________________________________________
GRADE: __________________________________________
DATE: _______________________________________________
SIMPLE PAST
Simple past tense verbs—also called past simple or preterite—show action that occurred and was
completed at a particular time in the past. The simple past tense of regular verbs is marked by the
ending -d or -ed. Irregular verbs have a variety of endings. The simple past is not accompanied
by helping verbs. "The simple past tense is often used with an adverbial phrase that specifies a
time in the past, such as yesterday, last year, (or) an hour ago," according to Complete English
Grammar Rules.
An example of a simple past tense verb used in a sentence would be: "I went to the park." The
speaker completed her action of going to the park, so you use the verb "go" in the simple past
tense. Note how this example uses an irregular verb but in the past simple, which can be a bit
confusing until you understand the rules for using these verbs.
Regular Verbs
As with any subject in English grammar, it's easiest to start with regular verbs. A good example
sentence—from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz—would be: "The four travelers passed a sleepless
night, each thinking of the gift Oz had promised to bestow on him." The present tense of the verb
is "pass." You know it's a regular verb because you simply add "ed" to form the past tense.
Other examples of regular simple past tense verbs used in a sentence are:
I solved the puzzle.
He dumped the garbage.
In the first sentence, you simply add a "d" to "solve" to get the past tense of the verb.
The second example is just as easy: Simply add "ed" to "dump" to form the simple past tense.
Singular Plural
I dumped. We dumped.
You dumped. You dumped.
He/She/It dumped. They dumped.
In the case of "It dumped," presumably a monster—or Cousin It—dumped something somewhere
at some specific time in the past.
"To Be" Verbs
The "to be" verbs—such as "is" and "am"—are all irregular verbs. Indeed, "to be" verbs are the
only verbs in English that change form in every tense. Fortunately, the past simple for "to be"
verbs is fairly easy, as the following table shows:
Singular Plural
I was. We were.
You were. You were.
He/She/It was. They were.
Note that the past singular requires "was" for the first and third person, while "were" is used with
a second-person pronoun. All forms are the same—"were"—for the plural tenses.
Irregular Verbs
Irregular verbs can be a bit tricky in the past tense, but they don't have to be if you familiarize
yourself with them. Study.com, a website that provides video-based academic courses, offers this
table listing some of the verbs that are irregular in the past tense.
Present Past
buy bought
come came
do did
fly flew
get got
go went
have had
keep kept
pay paid
run ran
see saw
sleep slept
take took
tell told
think thought
There is no easy way to learn how to conjugate irregular verbs in the past tense: You simply have
to memorize them. The following table illustrates how to conjugate "sweep" in the simple past
tense.
Singular Plural
I swept. We swept.
You swept. You swept.
He/She/It swept. They swept.
To form the simple past of this irregular verb, you remove the second "e" from "sweep" and add a
"t." Note that though the verb is irregular, it conjugates exactly the same way—"swept"—in the
first, second, or third person as well as in the singular and plural forms.
This is the case for all irregular verbs in the past simple tense. Once you know the spelling of the
irregular verb in the simple past tense, you can relax because it is the same for the first, second,
and third person as well as in the singular and plural forms.
WORKSHOP
1. Make a mind map in where you summarize the last reading about the past tense.
2. What are the rules, you need to write verbs in past?
3. How do you classify the past verbs in English?
“print it”
