Significance of the Study
See the examples of negative form sentences of simple past tense in table 2.2 below:
Table 2.2
SUBJECT + DID + NOT + MAIN VERB a
I did not walk to school yesterday
b
You did not walk to school yesterday
c
Tom did not eat lunch yesterday
d
They did not come to class yesterday
INCORRECT: I did not walked to school yesterday. INCORRECT: Tom did not ate lunch yesterday.
I You
She He + did not +
It main verb We
They Notice: the imple
form of the main verb is used with did
nnot
e. I
didn’t walk to school yesterday.
f. Tom
didn’t eat lunch yesterday.
Negative contraction:
did + not = didn’t
Taken from: Betty Schrampfer Azar Stacy A. Hagen, Basic English Grammar.
3. YesNo Questions and Short Answers.
Before the subject, put didn’t in yesno questions for simple past tense.
The main verb is in the simple form and there is no final –ed ending in the
question form. See the examples in table 2.3.
Table 2.3 Possible Answers
Examples Affirmative
Negative Affirmative
Questions Did
your mother cook last
night?
Did you move to a new
apartment?
Did the neighbors visit last
week?
Yes, she did.
Yes, I did.
Yes, they did.
No, she
didn’t.
No, I
didn’t.
No, they
didn’t.
Negative Questions
Didn’t she rent a video last
night?
Didn’t he call you at home? Didn’t they paint house a few
years ago? Yes, she did.
Yes, he did. Yes, they did.
No, she
didn’t.
No, he
didn’t
No, they
didn’t.
Taken from: Elaine Kirn, Darcy Jack, Jill Korey O‟Sullivan, Interactions 1 Grammar.
The form of irregular verb in the simple past tense are : a.
Affirmative 1.
The verb other than be uses formula as follow:
Examples : I wrote a letter for my grandmother last night.
She sang a wedding song yesterday. We saw a thief a few minutes ago.
2. The verb be uses formula as follow:
Examples : My mother was a nurse.
We were very tired last night. John was late yesterday.
b. Negative
1. The negative form of irregular verb is:
Examples : Ronald did not go to campus last week.
She did not eat anything at the party. You did not come to the meeting yesterday afternoon.
Subject + verb 2 + ....
Subject + waswere + ...
Subject + did not + Verb 1 + ...