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FORM OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE WITH REGULAR VERBS
The form is the same for all persons. Pronunciation spelling I >
played /d/ arrive/arrived Pronunciation of the regular past verbs in the regular past always end with a -d in their spelling, but the pronunciation of the past ending is not always the same: play/played /d/ The most common spelling characteristic of the regular past is that -ed is added to the base form of the verb: opened, knocked, stayed, etc. Except in the cases noted below, this -ed is not pronounced as if it were an extra syllable, so opened is pronounced: /@Up@nd/, knocked: /nQkt/, stayed: /steId/, etc. arrive/arrived /d/ Verbs which end in the following sounds have their past endings pronounced /d/: /b/ rubbed; /g/ tugged; /dZ/ managed; /l/ filled; /m/ dimmed; /n/ listened; vowel + /r/ stirred; /v/ loved; /z/ seized. The -ed ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable. work/worked /t/ Verbs which end in the following sounds have their past endings pronounced /t/: /k/ packed; /s/ passed; /tS/ watched; /S/ washed; /f/ laughed; /p/ tipped. The -ed ending is not pronounced as an extra syllable. dream/dreamed /d/ or dreamt /t/ A few verbs function as both regular and irregular and may have their past forms spelt -ed or -t pronounced /d/ or /t/: e.g. burn, dream, lean, learn, smell, spell, spill, spoil. post/posted /Id/ Verbs which end in the sounds /t/ or /d/ have their past endings pronounced /Id/: posted, added. The -ed ending is pronounced as an extra syllable added to the base form of the verb.
The regular past always ends in -d: arrive/arrived Verbs ending in -e add -d: e.g. phone/phoned, smile/smiled. This rule applies equally to agree, die, lie, etc. wait/waited Verbs not ending in -e add -ed: e.g. ask/asked, clean/cleaned, follow/followed, video/videoed. stop/stopped Verbs spelt with a single vowel letter followed by a single consonant letter double the consonant: beg/begged, rub/rubbed. occur/occurred 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. cry/cried 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. Compare: delay/delayed, obey/obeyed, play/played, etc. which have a vowel before -y and therefore simply add -ed in the past.
FORM OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE WITH IRREGULAR VERBS
The form is the same for all persons I >} Notes on the past form of irregular verbs Unlike regular verbs, irregular verbs (about 150 in all) do not have past forms which can be predicted: shut/shut A small number of verbs have the same form in the present as in the past: e.g. cut/cut, hit/hit, put/put. It is important to remember, particularly with such verbs, that the third person does not change in the past: e.g. he shut (past); he shuts (present). sit/sat The past form of most irregular verbs is different from the present: bring/brought, catch/caught, keep/kept, leave/left, lose/lost.
USES OF THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE 1. Completed actions We normally use the Simple Past Tense to talk about events, actions or situations which occurred in the past and are now finished. They may have happened recently:
or in the distant past:
A time reference must be given:
or must be understood from the context:
When we use the simple past, we are usually concerned with when an action occurred, not with its duration (how long it lasted).
2. Past habit Like used to, the simple past can be used to describe past habits:
3. The immediate past We can sometimes use the Simple Past without a time reference to describe something that happened a very short time ago:
4. Polite inquiries, etc. The Simple Past does not always refer to past time. It can also be used for polite inquiries (particularly asking for favours), often with verbs like hope, think or wonder. Compare:
ADVERBIALS WITH THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE
The association of the Past Tense with adverbials that tell us when something happened is very important. Adverbials used with the past tense must refer to past (not present) time. This means that adverbials which link the present (before now, so far, till now, yet) are not used with past tenses. Some adverbials like yesterday, last summer and combinations with ago are used only with past tenses:
Ago, meaning 'back from now', can combine with a variety of expressions to refer to the past: e.g. two years ago; six months ago; ten minutes ago; a long time ago:
The Simple Past is often used with when to ask and answer questions:
When often points to a definite contrast with the present:
Other adverbials can be used with past tenses when they refer to past time, but can be used with other tenses as well: adverbs: I always liked Gloria.
adverbial/prepositional phrases: We left at 4 o'clock/on Tuesday.
adverbial clauses: I waited till he arrived.
as + adverb + as: I saw him as recently as last week.
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