It also implies a gap between the time reffered to and the present moment. The simple past indicates that an activity or situation began and ended at a
praticular time in the past.
3
From the definitions above, it shows that the simple past tense is used to tell or describe events, actions, or states which already
happened in the past with a definite time and completed before the statement is made.
2. Form of the Simple Past Tense
There are several forms of the simple past tense of regular verb, those are : 1.
Affrimative For regular verbs use the formula :
2. Negative
For negative form in regular past tense verb, use formula:
See the examples of affirmative sentences in the simple past tense form in table 2.1, below:
Table 2.1 Examples
Notes Affirmative
He helped her paint her kitchen. I stayed up late last night.
We listened to music after dinner. The children played games in the
living room. All regular verbs
take an –ed ending
in the past tense. This form is used for
all subjects, both singular and plural.
Taken from: Elaine Kirn, Darcy Jack, Jill Korey O‟Sullivan, Interactions 1 Grammar.
________________________
3
Betty Schrampfer Azar, Understanding and Using English Grammar, New York: Longman, 1999, p. 27.
Subject + verb + -ed
Subject + did + not + verb
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.
