a. Statements
Statements in English are divided into two, affirmative and negative statements. An affirmative statement is a sentence that state something in a
straightforward way. Meanwhile, a negative statement is to denay, contradict, or refuse something. Each of them is different formed.
1. An affirmative statement is formed with:
Example: I played tennis yesterday. We went to the movies last night.
Example: The weather was nice last week. You were late yesterday.
2. A negative statement is formed with:
Example: I did not play tennis yesterday. We did not go to the movies last night.
Example: The weather was not nice last week. You were not late yesterday.
b. YesNo Questions
Another kind of simple past tense is YesNo question. Like form of statement, YesNo questions in English are also divided into two parts, affirmative
and negative questions.
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Kirn, op. cit., p. 110.
Subject + Verb 2 +….
Subject + did not + Verb 1 + … Subject + be was or were
+ ….
Subject + be was or were not + …
1. An affirmative is formed with:
Example: “Did it rain on last Sunday?” “Yes, it did.” “Did your parents have a good trip?” “Yes, they did.”
Example: “Was Felix at work yesterday?” “Yes, he was.” “Were Amy and Matt at the party?” “Yes, they were.”
2. A negative question is formed with:
Example: “Did not it rain on last Sunday?” “No, it did not.” “Did not your parents have a good trip?” “No, they did not.”
Example: “Was not Felix at work yesterday?” “No, he was not.” “Were not Amy and Matt at the party?” “No, they were not.”
c. Informative Questions
In simple past tense, there is an informative question, which is usually used to get full information about activities, events or situation that do in the past.
Informative questions use interrogative words, such as why, where, when, who, what, or who to elicit specific details.
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Besides, many simple past tense informative questions use did before the subject; why can also have did not
before the subject. When who or what is the subject of the sentence, the main
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Martha Kolln and Robert Funk, Understanding English Grammar, Eighth Edition, Boston: Pearson Education, Inc. 2010, p. 56.
Did + Subject + Verb 1 + …
Waswere + subject + adjective …
Did not + Subject + Verb 1 + …
Waswere not + Subject + …
verb is in the simple past tense and did is not used before the subject. The following is the example of informative questions:
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1. The positive form: Example:
“Where did your relatives stay?” “They stayed in the upstairs bedroom.
2. The negative form: E
xample: “Why did not you order in pizza?” “I wanted a home-cooked meal.”
From the description above, each form of simple past tense is different whether it is affirmative or negative forms. The positive form of simple past tense
is formed by –ed regular verbs and many different changes for irregular verbs
based on the verbs. For negative, it is formed by did not for infinitive and waswere not for -be. Then, interrogative sentence, it is also formed by diddid
not for infinitive and waswere or waswere not for -be.
3. The Use of Simple Past Tense
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