past tense 4

This page will explain the rules for forming the past progressive tense, This page will explain the rules for forming the past progressive tense, and how it is used.. and how it is use[r]

A Guide to Past Tense Verbs

Presented By Delora, Kathy, and Clarine

The word "tense" comes from Latin tempus ,

meaning time In grammar, "tense" refers to the form of the verb itself:

• Tense indicates completeness or continuance If the event is complete, it's past; if the event isn't complete, it's present.

• We use past tense (preteritum) to tell about

something that happened at a specific time in the past, or to tell about something that

happened repeatedly in the past.

The simple past tense is one of the most common tenses in English Its form is the same with all subjects It is usually formed by adding -ED to the verb This page will explain the rules for forming the tense with regular verbs

*The simple past tense regular verbs, are created just by adding -D or -ED However, with some verbs, you need to also change the ending

Here are some examples:

• Verb ending in e, Add –D live - lived

• Consonant + y Change y to i, then add –ED try - tried

• One vowel + one consonant (but NOT w or y)

Double the consonant, then add –ED tap tapped

commit – committed

• [anything else] Add –ED boil – boiled , fill – filled

When the verb in the independent

clause is the past tense, the verb in the dependent clause is usually in a past

tense as well The past tenses are: the simple past, the past progressive, the past perfect, and the past perfect

progressive.

When you are writing about a subject, be sure to keep it in the same tense throughout your paper

Do This:

• I saw a bear climb a tree, and then I wrote

about him.

• Jenny mixed the cake, while I whipped the

frosting.

Do Not Do This:

• I saw a bear climb a tree, and then I write about him.

• Jenny mixes the cake, while I whipped the

frosting.

The simple past tense

• Last year, I traveled to Japan.

• They never went to school; they always skipped.

• I finished work, walked to the beach, and found a nice place to swim.

In the simple past tense, negative and question forms are made using the auxiliary verb "do" (in its past form, "did") followed by the simple form of the main verb

This page explains the rules

• Simple past statement : I had a car

You ate my toast.

• Informal negative : I didn't have a car.

You didn't eat my toast

• Formal negative : I did not have a car.

You did not eat my toast

The past perfect refers to a time earlier than before now

It is used to make it clear that one event happened before another in the past It does not matter which event is mentioned first - the tense makes it clear which one

happened first

computer crashed.

• When they arrived, we had already

• The train had just left when I arrived at the station.

The past progressive tense is commonly used in English for actions which were going on (had not finished) at a particular time in the past This page will explain the rules for forming the past progressive tense, and how it is used

Subject BE-ING FORM Examples:

• I was singing.

Definition: The Perfect Progressive tense is used to express the time that has elapsed between two

points in time The Past Perfect Progressive

expresses the time elapsed between the beginning

of a continuous action that began in the past and another point in time in the past.

• The police had been looking for the robber for two months before they finally found him.

participating in many extracurricular activities.

Past Tense Verbs Regular versus Irregular How to Identify Them

* REGULAR VERBS:

participles for regular verbs as there is no change in their spelling

*Examples of regular verbs, (simple past):

*Examples of regular verbs, (past participles with their helping verbs):

Irregular Verbs

IRREGULAR VERBS:

• The irregular verbs are verbs that change in spelling to show their past tense Mastering the spelling of these irregular verbs must be done by repetition and studying Their past participle is usually

another spelling of the verb and needs a helping verb such as:

have, having, has or had The main verb with the helping verb

forms a perfect tense

*Examples of irregular verbs, (simple past):

• More customers ate here today than Saturday

• Students spoke at the convention last month

• The flowers grew beautifully in the garden

• She drank all of the orange juice

*Examples of irregular verbs (past participles) with their helping verbs, (past perfect tense):

• More customers have eaten here today than Saturday

• Students have spoken at the convention in the past

Works Cited

• Rodrigues, Dawn, and Myron C Tuman Writing Essentials 2nd ed New York: W W.

Norton and Co Inc., 1999.

• Aaron, Jane E The Little, Brown Essential

Handbook for Writers 2nd ed New York:

Addison-Wesley Educational Publishers, Inc.,

1997.

• Boyd, Mark D Personal interview September

Works Cited

“Past Perfect Progressive.” My English Teacher 2002 15 Dec 2005

<www.myenglishteacher.net/past_perfect_progressive.html>

“Summary of Verb Tenses.” Leo Literacy Education Online 22 Sept

2000 15 Dec 2005 <http://leo.stcloudstate.edu/grammar/tense s.html>

"Forming the Simple Present Tense." English Language Center Study Zone 1998-1999 15 Dec 2005

<http://web2.uvcs.uvic.ca/elc/studyzone/330/grammar/pres.htm> Fulwiler ,Toby, Hayakawa, Alan R The College Writer’s Reference 3rd

Ed 2001

Works Cited

www.stolaf.edu/depts/norwegian/grammar/past-tense.htm>.

<http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/>.