MEETING 3

THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

A. LEARNING OBJECTIVES
In this chapter, students will learn about simple past tense. After having
the explanation, students are able to:
1.1. Know and understand the functions of the simple past tense.
1.2. Know and understand the past time expression in the simple past tense.
1.3. Know and understand the form of the simple past tense.
1.4. Know and understand the past habit used to.

B. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
The simple past tense is used to talk about a completed action in a time
before now, and it does not have any correlation with current situation. Duration
is not necessary; the time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.
Therefore, students can use simple past tense when they want to tell about past
condition, situation, or events. For example, students tell their past activities, past
experiences, past feeling or emotion, and other past situations.

1.1 The Functions of the simple past tense

The simple past tense talks the actions happened in a time before now. Here
are some examples:
 They discussed how to solve demonstration last week
 She became an entrepreneur to fulfill her daily needs
 Christopher Colombus sailed to America in 1942
 They crossed the Channel yesterday
 Alexander Graham Bell developed telephone in America
 I designed this night dress for her

1
1.2 Past Time Expression

Frequency Often, sometimes, always

 I often walked to go home
 Irma sometimes celebrated an
unusual party
A definite point Last week, yesterday, last night, and
at particular time (at 9 o’clock)
 She finished preparing all
things to go to abroad
yesterday
 He enhanced his
psychomotor skills last week

An indefinite point in time The other day, ages ago, a long time
ago,
 A long time ago, there was a
pretty lady who lived near a
beautiful village
 They joined a car race a week
ago
Conjunction When
 She conquered English when
she was a child
 When the paparazzi came,
the famous actor felt
uncomfortable

1.3 The Form of the Simple Past Tense

1.3.1 Simple Past Tense of Regular Verbs.
The verb is to decide:

2
 Affirmative Interrogative Negative
I decided to resign Did I decide to resign? I did not decide to
resign
you decided to resign Did you decide to I did not decide to
resign? resign
They decided to resign Did they decide to I did not decide to
resign? resign
We decided to resign Did we decide to I did not decide to
resign? resign
She decided to resign Did she decide to I did not decide to
resign? resign
It decided to resign Did it decide to resign? I did not decide to
resign
He decided to resign Did he decide to I did not decide to
resign? resign

For the negative and interrogative simple past, the auxiliary is “did or did
not”, and it is followed by bare verb (no addition of verb: see, pass, and
more).
Examples:
1. Did Maria pass her placement test?
2. Did she make a big decision on her life?
3. They did not invent anything
4. We did not argue about it

1.3.2 Simple Past Tense of Irregular verbs.

The verb is to go:
Affirmative Interrogative Negative
I went to the party Did I went to the party? I did not go to the party
you went to the Did you went to the you did not go to the
party party? party
They went to the Did they went to the they did not go to the

3
 party party? party
We went to the Did we went to the we did not go to the party
party party?
She went to the Did she went to the she did not go to the
party party? party
It went to the party Did it went to the party? It did not go to the party
He went to the party Did he went to the party? he did not go to the party

1.2.3 Simple Past Tense of TO BE

SUBJECTS TO BE
I Was
 It was late to go
 It wasn’t late to go
 Was it late to go?
You Were
You were at home last night?
You were not at home?
Were you at home last night?
They Were
We Were
She Was
He Was
it Was
It was really awesome
It was not awesome
Was it awesome?

1.4 Expressing Past Habit: USED TO

Used to expresses a past situation or habit that no longer exists at present.
Here is the form:

4
 Used to + the simple form of a verb.
Look at the following examples of affirmative form using used to:
1. I used to live with my parent. Now I live in my own apartment.
2. Ann used to be afraid of dogs, but now she likes dogs.
3. Al used to smoke, but he doesn’t anymore.
For the question form, it is added by did. The form is as follows:

Did + subject + used to

Or
Did + subject + use to*

Look at the following example:

 Did you used to live in Paris? or
 Did you use to live in Paris?
In the negative form, not is added. Here is the form:
Didn’t used to
Or
Didn’t use to*
Look at the following example:
 I didn’t used to drink coffee at breakfast, but now I always have coffee
in the morning.
(OR I didn’t use to drink coffee)
From the example above, it can be seen that didn’t use(d) to occurs
infrequently. More commonly, people use never to express a negative idea
with used to, as in the example below:
 I never used to drink coffee at breakfast, but now I always have coffee
in the morning.
*Both forms used to or use to in questions and negative are possible. There is no
consensus among English language authorities on which is preferable.

5
C. COMPREHENSION TEST
PART I. SIMPLE PAST: Irregular Verbs.
Directions: Complete each sentence with the simple past of any irregular verb that
makes sense. There are maybe more than one possible completion.
1. Maria walked to school today. Rebecca _________ her car. Olga _________
her bicycle. Yoko _________ the bus.
2. Ann didn’t throw her old shoes away. She _________ them because they
were comfortable.
3. Last night I had a good night’s sleep. I __________ nine hours.
4. Jack _________ his pocketknife at the park yesterday. This morning he
_________ back to the park to look for it. Finally, he __________ it in the
grass. He was glad to have it back.
5. It got so cold last night that the water in the pond __________.
6. Mr. Litovchenko was very happy but a little nervous when he __________
his baby in his arms for the first time.
7. My husband gave me a painting for my birthday. I _________ it on a wall in
my office.
8. I _________ Jennifer’s parents when they visited her. She introduced me to
them.
9. The sun __________ at 06:04 this morning and will set at 6:59.
10. Jane didn’t want anyone to find her diary, so she __________it in a shoe box
in her closet.
11. Steve __________ on the campfire to make it burn.
12. Amanda ________a lie. I didn’t believe her because I _______ the truth.
13. Sam ran the fastest, so he _________ the race.
14. The soldiers _________ the battle through the night and into the morning.
15. I dropped my favorite vase. It fell on the floor and _________ into a hundred
pieces.
16. The children had a good time at the park yesterday. They ________ the ducks
small pieces of bread.
17. Ahmed _________ his apartment in a hurry this morning because he was late
for school. That’s why he _________ to bring his books to class.

6
18. I caught the bird and ________ it gently in my hands until I could put it back
outside.
19. My friend told me that he had a singing dog. When the dog _______, I
_______ my hands over my ears.
20. Oh my gosh! Call the police! Someone __________ my car.

PART II. Past Habit with USED TO

Directions: Make sentences with a similar meaning by using used to. Some of the
sentences are negatives, and some of them are questions.
1. When I was young, I thought that people over forty were old.
 I ____________________________ that people over forty were old
2. Now you live in this city. Where did you live before you came here?
 _________________________________________?
3. Did you at some time in the past work for the telephone company?
 _____________________________ for the telephone company?
4. When I was younger I slept through the night. I never woke up in the middle
of the night.
 I ___________________________ in the middle of the night, but now I do.
 I ___________________________ through the night, but now I don’t.
5. When I was a child, I watched cartoon on TV. Now I don’t watch cartoon
anymore. Now I watch news programs. How about you?
 I ____________________________ cartoons on TV, but I don’t anymore.
 I ____________________________ news programs, but now I do.
 What ________________________ on TV when you were a little kid?

7
 REFERENCES

Books
Azar, Betty Schrampfer. 2003. Fundamentals English Grammar Third Edition.
USA: Longman.

Broukal, Milada. 1995. The Heinle & Heinle TOEFL Test Assistant: Grammar.
USA: Heinle &Heinle Publishers.

Link and Sites

Caroline Brown and Pearson Brown. 2010. English Grammar Secrets. Accessed
on 25 August 2016 at 21.20 p.m.
http://grammar-teacher.com/englishgrammarsecrets.pdf

Oliveira, Shayna. 2002. Espresso English Free Grammar E-book Level 1.

Accessed on 07 September 2016 at 21.41 p.m
http://www.espressoenglish.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Free-English-
Grammar-eBook-Beginner.pdf