First – year Practical Grammar

Module 4

THE PAST SIMPLE (INDEFINITE)

Formation:
Some verbs are “regular”, other verbs are “irregular”.
1. The affirmative past simple of regular verbs ends in – ed, e. g.: work - worked; play –
played.
2. Irregular verbs have different affirmative past simple forms, e. g.: come – came; see –
saw.
In interrogative and negative sentences we use did / didn’t + the infinitive (do, open, rain).
Affirmative Negative Question
I I
You You I
He He work you
She worked She he work?
It It did not she
We We Did it
You came You come we come?
They They you
they

Contraction: didn’t = did not

Meanings Examples Time – indicators

The Past Simple tense is used
to denote:
yesterday, last week, three
1. a completed action in the You mother phoned a few years ago, then , in 1991,
past minutes ago a long time ago, etc.

every day/ morning…,

2. a repeated action in the We went out for a meal every often, sometimes, seldom,
past evening on holiday every other day, etc.

_____________
3. a succession of past He threw down his spade and
actions: entered the house.
since + clause
4. the beginning of another She’s been getting ready with
action expressed by the her report since she came
Present Perfect (Continuous) home from school.
I’ve known her since we went
to school together.

5. the time of another action
expressed by the Past
Continuous
6. an action going on at the
definite past moment (with
verbs not used in the
Continuous)
2
when + clause
We saw her when she was while + clause
entering the house.
While he was crossing the
road there appeared a fast
moving car out of the corner.
at that moment, at 3
At that very moment I wanted o’clock yesterday, from 5
never to see him again. to 6 last Sunday, all day
She looked/felt/seemed long, still, etc.
extremely ill when I saw her
yesterday.

Ex.1. Look at the verbs in the box. Which are regular and which are irregular? Put
them into correct columns, then write the Past Simple forms.
Begin, make, start, write, leave, loose, buy, do, see, visit, go, take, enjoy,
have, travel, drive, speak, come, stay, paint, meet

Regular verbs Irregular verbs

Infinitive Past Simple Infinitive Past Simple

________ __________ __________ ___________
________ __________ __________ ___________
________ __________ __________ ___________
________ __________ __________ ___________
________ __________ __________ ___________

Ex.2. Complete the conversation. Put had, did, was, were into the gaps:

A: It ______ my birthday yesterday. I’m twenty-five!

B: Really? What _____ you do?
A: Well, I _____ dinner with friends in an Italian restaurant.
B: What ____ you eat?
A: We all _____ pizzas. They ______ very good.
B: ______ you enjoy your birthday, then?
A: Mmm. It ______ excellent. When’s your birthday?
B: Today.
A: Oh, no! Happy birthday!

Ex.3. Complete the sentences with the positive form of the verb.

Example: I didn’t go to the New York, I went to Chicago.

1. We didn’t meet Jim, we ____ Max.
 3
2. He didn’t leave last Tuesday, he _____ last Thursday.
3. We didn’t see Jim, we ___ David.
4. They didn’t buy a Volvo, they ____ a Saab.
5. You didn’t know the answer, Tom _____ the answer.
6. I didn’t lose my passport, I _____ my ticket.
7. We didn’t have white wine, we ___ red wine.
8. He didn’t write a letter, he ______ a postcard.
9. The film didn’t begin at 6.30 p.m., it _____ at 7.30 p.m.

Ex.4. Put the words in the correct order to make questions. Then write true answers.

Example: school did when start you

When did you start school?
When I was 6. / In 1978.
1. morning you time get up what this did
________________________________?
________________________________.
2. dinner night have what you last for did
________________________________?
________________________________.
3. did train last you by when travel
____________________________?
____________________________.
4. do what Sunday you last did
____________________________?
____________________________.
5. holiday did summer on go where last you
____________________________?
____________________________.
6. visit you art gallery an last did when
______________________________?
______________________________.
7. travel today you how Institute did to
___________________________?
___________________________.

Ex.5. What did Simon and Sally do yesterday? Complete the conversation. Use these
verbs: win, meet, go, cost, stay, watch, buy, do, play.

Sally: What did you do yesterday? Did you go to the Sports Centre?
Simon: Yes, I went there with Andrew.
Sally: _____ tennis?
Simon: Yes, we did.
Sally: Andrew is good, isn’t he? _______the game?
Simon: Yes, he won easily.
Sally: What _____ in the evening? ___ at home?
Simon: Yes, I stayed in and watched TV.
 4
Sally: What ________?
Simon: A film of a rock concert. It was really good. What about you? _____ Peter
yesterday?
Sally: Yes, I met him in town. We went shopping. Peter wanted to look for some new
clothes.
Simon: ______ anything?
Sally: Yes, he bought a pair of jeans in Kings.
Simon: Kings? That’s a really expensive shop, isn’t it? How much ______?
Sally: £ 42.

Escape from the Jungle

Put the correct forms of these verbs into the gaps marked:

be break call fall find hit leave lie look

On Christmas Eve 1971 Juliana Koepke, a seventeen – year – old German girl ….. Lima
by air with her mother. They ….. on their way to Pucallpa, another town in Peru, to spend
Christmas with Juliana’s father. Forty – five minutes later the plane ….. up in a storm, and
Juliana ….. 3.000 metres, strapped in her seat. She was not killed, when the seat ….. the
ground (perhaps because the trees broke her fall), but she ….. all night unconscious.
The next morning Juliana ….. for pieces of the plane, and ….. for her mother. Nobody
answered, and she ….. nothing except a small plastic bag of sweets.

find find get hear know see see start

Juliana’s collar bone was broken, one knee was badly hurt and she had deep cuts on her
arms and legs. She had no shoes; her glasses were broken (so she could not ….. snakes or
spiders, for example) and she was wearing only a very short dress, which was badly torn. But
she decided to try to ….. out of the jungle, because she ….. that if she stayed there she would
die.
So Juliana ….. to walk. She did not ….. anything to eat, and as the days went by she got
weaker and weaker. She was also in bad trouble from insect bites. She ….. helicopters, but
could not see them above the trees and of course they could not see her. One day she …..
three seats and ….. that they had dead bodies in them, but she did not recognize the people.

come come get know learn swim take

After four days she ….. to a river. She saw caimans and piranhas, but she ….. that they
do not usually attack people. So Juliana walked and ….. down the river for another five days.
At last she ….. to a hut. Nobody was there, but the next afternoon, four men arrived. They
…..her to a doctor in the next village. Juliana ….. afterwards that there were at least three
other people who were not killed in the crash. But she was the only one, who ….. out of the
jungle. It took her ten days.