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Simple Past Tense: Yesterday, I Arrived in Geneva

The document discusses the simple past tense in English. It is used to talk about completed actions in a time before now, regardless of duration. Examples are provided using time expressions like "yesterday" and "last year." Irregular and regular verb forms in the past tense are also explained, including tables of common irregular and regular verbs. Guidelines are provided for using "to be" in the past tense as well as examples of nominal and verbal constructions. An assignment with exercises to practice simple past tense follows.

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Arlen Hadi
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85 views

Simple Past Tense: Yesterday, I Arrived in Geneva

The document discusses the simple past tense in English. It is used to talk about completed actions in a time before now, regardless of duration. Examples are provided using time expressions like "yesterday" and "last year." Irregular and regular verb forms in the past tense are also explained, including tables of common irregular and regular verbs. Guidelines are provided for using "to be" in the past tense as well as examples of nominal and verbal constructions. An assignment with exercises to practice simple past tense follows.

Uploaded by

Arlen Hadi
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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\ Simple Past Tense

The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not
important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

Examples
 John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
 My father died last year.
 He lived in Fiji in 1976.
 We crossed the Channel yesterday.
You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain
past time expressions

 frequency: often, sometimes, always


I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
I often brought my lunch to school.
 a definite point in time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago
We saw a good film last week.
Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
She finished her work atseven o'clock
I went to the theatre last night
 an indefinite point in time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago
People lived in caves a long time ago.

In Past Tense, we use Irregular Verb, and Regular Verb

IRREGULAR VERB

Table 4.1

VERB 1 VERB 2 VERB 3

Come Came Come

Write Wrote Written

Speak Spoke Spoken

Drink Drank Drunk

Eat Ate Eaten


REGULAR VERB

Table 4.2

VERB 1 VERB 2 VERB 3

Learn Learned Learned

Wait Waited Waited

Watch Watched Watched

Play Played Played

Use Used Used

“To be” which use in the past tense only two and they are :

 Was for singular person (he, she, it, I)


 Were for plural person (you, they, we)

Formula of Simple Past Tense:

(verbal) Subject + V2 + Complement

(nominal) Subject + To Be (was/were) + Complement

Example :

 He came to the Art Galery with me yesterday. (verbal)


 I did my homework by myself. (verbal)

 I was student of Senior High School two years ago. (nominal)


 They were my classmate when I was in junior high school. (nominal)

Assignment
I. Complete the conversation with WAS / WASN’T / WERE / WEREN’T.
Dina : Where were you last night? I phoned you but you …………… at home.

Mely : I …………..out with friends. We ……………. at the Bluenote Café.

Dina : …………… Julia there?

Mely : No, she …………… . Why?


Dina : Oh, I just wondered.

Mely : She ………….out with Nick. They ……………at the Oasis. I think.

Dina : No, they …………… .

Me;y : How do you know?

Dina : Because I …………….. there!

II. Complete these sentences in the PAST TENSE, using the correct verb:

* play * enjoy * watch * listen * talk

* phone * stop * walk * travel * like * stay

Example:

I watched the late film on TV last night.

1. We really ………………….. the concert last night. It was great!


2. She ………………… with friends in Brighton last summer.
3. Italy ………………… very well in the last World Cup.
4. Her parents ………………….. by train from Shanghai to Moscow.
5. I ………………….. you four times last night but you were out.
6. We …………………. along the beach yesterday. It was lovely.
7. She …………………. the film but she didn’t like the music.
8. The men ………………….. work at exactly one o’clock.
9. I ……………………. to the new Sting album yesterday. It’s great.
10. They ………………… to us about their trip to Madagascar. It was very interesting.

III. Complete the story. Use the verbs in the brackets


Last year I went (go) on holiday. I ……………… (drive) to the sea with my friend. On the first
day we ……………… (look) at the beautiful buildings and ……………. (eat) in lots of restaurants. The
next day ……………… (be) very hot so we …………….. (drive) to the sea. We ……………….. (leave)
our clothes in the car and ………………… (sunbathe) and ……………. (swim) all day. At six o’clock
we ………………. (walk) to our car, but the car ……………(be) there. We ……………… (buy) some
clothes and ………………. (go) to the Police Station. The police ……………. (be) nice and we
…………….. (sleep) in the police station.

IV. Please rearrange the sentences below into good paragraph.

Last Summer Holiday

1. People are very friendly and hospitable.


2. We swam, sunbathed and had great time on the beach of Nice.
3. Especially, the port of Nice is a fantastic place to visit.
4. I didn't like them a lot.
5. It had a wonderful view of the sea.
6. I definitely want to go to Nice again.
7. Also the dishes were absolutely delicious.
8. There was a lot of old bric-à-brac from different places of the World.
9. After visiting the museums, we returned to our hotel room as we were really tired.
10. On the second day, we went to two museums.
11. First we went to an art museum.
12. Last Summer I went to Nice. It's a great place to have a holiday.
13. At last, we spent a whole day at the great beaches of Nice.
14. Second we went to a very unusual museum of bric-à-brac.
15. It was really interesting to see.
16. On the first day, we went to a restaurant with a terrace.
17. It was a short but very entertaining and relaxing holiday.
18. There weren't many pictures, but there were many contemporary art productions.

V. After arranging the sentences into good paragraph, please decide are these statements true or false?
1. The author liked the food in the restaurant.
2. He went to an art museum after the bric-à-brac’s museum.
3. He had a long holiday there.
4. He spent the last day at the beach.
5. He only went to two museums on the second day.

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