The Simple Past Tense ~ English in Progress

THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

Form

A The simple past tense in regular verbs is formed by adding the inflectional suffix –(e)d to the infinitive base: Infinitive: to work Simple past: worked
Affirmative Negative Interrogative
I worked. I did not(didn't) work. Did I work?

When an infinitive verb ends in –e, we add -d only:
Infinitive: to love Simple past: loved
The same form is used for all persons:
I worked you worked he worked etc.
The negative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did not (didn't) and the infinitive:
I did not/didn 't work
you did not/didn't work etc.
The interrogative of regular and irregular verbs is formed with did + subject + infinitive:
did I work? did you work? etc.
Negative interrogative: did you not/didn't you work? etc.

SPELLING NOTES

1. When an infinitive base ends in –e, we add -d: e.g. phone/phoned, smile/smiled.
This rule applies equally to agree, die, lie, etc.
2. When an infinitive base does not end in –e, we add -ed: e.g. ask/asked, clean/cleaned, follow/followed, video/videoed.
When an infinitive base ends in a consonant and in front of it is a single short vowel, we double that consonant: beg/begged, rub/rubbed.
In two-syllable verbs the final consonant is doubled when the last syllable contains a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter and is stressed:
pre'fer/preferred, re'fer/referred.
Compare: 'benefit/benefited, 'differ/differed and 'profit/profited which are stressed on their first syllables and which therefore do not double their final consonants.
In American English labeled, quarreled, signaled and traveled follow the rule. In British English labelled, quarrelled, signalled and travelled are exceptions to the rule.
3. When there is a consonant before -y, the "y" changes to "i" before we add -ed: e.g. carry/carried, deny/denied, fry/fried, try/tried.
But if in front of -y is a vowel, therefore we simply add -ed and there is no change, eg.: delay/delayed, obey/obeyed, play/played, etc.

PRONUNCIATION OF –(E)D

The inflectional suffix -ed is pronounced as an extra syllable /id/, or as /t/ or /d/ at the end of the simple past and past participle forms of verbs. The pronunciation depends on the final sound of the simple form of the verb:
1. When an infinitive base ends with the sounds / t / or / d /, -ed is pronounced as an extra syllable /id/, eg.: started, needed, ended
2. When an infinitive base ends with the voiceless sounds, then –ed is pronounced as / t /, eg.: stopped, laughed, worked, sliced
3. When an infinitive base ends with the voiced sounds, then –ed is pronounced as / d /, eg.: listened, called, ordered, judged

Irregular verbs: form
These vary considerably in their simple past form:
Infinitive: to eat, to leave, to see, to speak
Simple past: ate, left, saw, spoke
The simple past form of each irregular verb must therefore be learnt, but once this is done there is no other difficulty, as irregular verbs (like regular verbs) have no inflexions in the past tense.

USES OF THE PAST SIMPLE TENSE

USE 1 Completed Action in the Past
Use the Simple Past to express the idea that an action started and finished at a specific time in the past. Sometimes, the speaker may not actually mention the specific time, but they do have one specific time in mind.
Examples:
· I saw a movie yesterday.
· I didn't see a play yesterday.
· Last year, I traveled to Japan.
· Last year, I didn't travel to Korea.

USE 2 A Series of Completed Actions
We use the Simple Past to list a series of completed actions in the past. These actions happen 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and so on.
Examples:
· I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.
· He arrived from the airport at 8:00, checked into the hotel at 9:00, and met the others at 10:00.
· Did you add flour, pour in the milk, and then add the eggs?

USE 3 Duration in Past
The Simple Past can be used with a duration which starts and stops in the past. A duration is a longer action often indicated by expressions such as: for two years, for five minutes, all day, all year, etc.
Examples:
· I lived in Brazil for two years.
· Shauna studied Japanese for five years.
· They sat at the beach all day.

USE 4 Habits in the Past
The Simple Past can also be used to describe a habit which stopped in the past. It can have the same meaning as "used to." To make it clear that we are talking about a habit, we often add expressions such as: always, often, usually, never, when I was a child, when I was younger, etc.
Examples:
· I studied French when I was a child.
· Did you play a musical instrument when you were a kid?
· They never went to school, they always skipped class.

USE 5 Past Facts or Generalizations
The Simple Past can also be used to describe past facts or generalizations which are no longer true. As in USE 4 above, this use of the Simple Past is quite similar to the expression "used to."
Examples:
· She was shy as a child, but now she is very outgoing.
· He didn't like tomatoes before.
· Did you live in Texas when you were a kid?
· People paid much more to make cell phone calls in the past.
USE 6 Sometimes the time becomes definite as a result of a question and answer in the present perfect:
Where have you been? ~ I've been to the opera. ~ Did you enjoy it? (See 184 A for further examples.)

USE 7 The simple past tense is used for an action whose time is not given but which (a) occupied a period of time now terminated, or (b) occurred at a moment in a period of time now terminated.Examples of type (a):
He worked in that bank for four years. (but he does not work there now)
She lived in Rome for a long time, (but she is not living there now)
Examples of type (b):
My grandmother once saw Queen Victoria.
Did you ever hear Maria Callas sing?

ACTIVE / PASSIVE: WAS/WERE + PAST PARTICIPLE
Examples:
· Tom repaired the car. Active
· The car was repaired by Tom. Passive