Lecture on Simple Past Tense

Introduction to Simple Past Tense

• Simple past tense refers to actions or events that happened in the past.
• Commonly used time expressions:
  • Often, yesterday, a moment ago, an hour ago, a few days ago, last night, last week, etc.
• Two forms of simple past tense: verbal and nominal.

Verbal Form (Using Verbs)

• Positive Sentence Structure:
  • Subject + Verb (Past form/v2)
  • Example: I studied English last night (I + studied + English last night).
• Negative Sentence Structure:
  • Subject + did not + Verb (base form)
  • Example: I did not study English last night (I + did not + study + English last night).
• Interrogative Sentence Structure:
  • Did + Subject + Verb (base form)?
  • Example: Did you study English last night? (Did + you + study + English last night).

Notes on Verb Forms

• Verb 1: Base form (study).
• Verb 2: Simple past form (studied).
• Verb 3: Past participle (used for perfect tenses).
• Examples:
  • Study (study - studied - studied).
  • Go (go - went - gone).
  • Write (write - wrote - written).
  • Read (read - read - read).

Nominal Form (Using Nouns/Non-Verbs)

• Positive Sentence Structure:
  • Subject + was/were + Noun/Adjective/Adverb
  • I was in India last year (was for I, he, she, it).
  • They were happy last night (were for you, we, they).
• Negative Sentence Structure:
  • Subject + was not/were not + Noun/Adjective/Adverb
  • Example: I was not too young (I + was not + too young).
  • They were not in Bali last month (They + were not + in Bali last month).
• Interrogative Sentence Structure:
  • Was/Were + Subject + Noun/Adjective/Adverb?
  • Example: Was she in Brooklyn yesterday? (Was + she + in Brooklyn yesterday?).
• Special interrogative forms: Adding “What”: What was that?

Practical Tips

• To memorize the verb forms (irregular verbs), make lists and repeatedly review them by keeping flashcards or notes nearby.
• Focus on using common time expressions to identify past actions.

Summary

• Always distinguish between verbal (action verbs) and nominal (non-action verbs) forms when constructing sentences in the simple past tense.
• Use was for singular subjects and were for plural subjects in nominal form.
• Ensure proper verb forms (base form in negatives and questions with “did”).
• Utilize common past time indicators like last night, yesterday, etc., to effectively use the simple past tense.