UNIT 3

A life of achievement
-

Lesson Objectives:
1. To express the different events of our life.
2. To know how to formulate affirmative, questions and negatives sentences in simple
past.
3. To identify regular and irregular verbs.

Image 1. Objectives Icon

 DEVELOPMENT

Born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana, Michael Jackson

became the lead singer of his family's popular
Motown group, the Jackson 5. He went on to a solo
career of astonishing success, delivering No. 1 hits
from the albums Off the Wall, Thriller and Bad. The
"King of Pop" was dogged by allegations of child
molestation in his later years, and died just before
launching a comeback tour in 2009.

1. Look at the picture of Michael

Jackson. What do you know about
his? Put a
next to the sentences about his that
you think are true.
a. He was born in Indiana. ___
b. He is an only child. ___
c. He is married. ___
d. He was the King of Pop. ___
e. He was black. ___
f. He gives a lot of money to charity. ___
g. He has his own newspaper. ___
h. He died in 2009. ___

Image 2. Michael Jackson

The life events are moments that had been very important in our lives like graduation, wedding
or our first day at school.

Retirement

Graduation

Image 3. Graduation Image 4. Retirement

 Wedding

First day at
school

First child

Image 5. Wedding Image 6. School

Image 7. Child

2. Complete the sentences with the correct life events.

 My _first child_ was when I had 28 years old. (Example)

 Their ________ were 3 year ago, when they finished their university.
 Our ________ were in 2012.
 In my ______________, I cried so much.
 His __________ was together with his wife in 2016.

Get a degree Graduarse

Go to university Ir a la Universidad
Fall in love Enamorarse
Get a job Conseguir un trabajo
Get engaged Comprometerse
Move house Mudarse

 I ____________ when I had 15 years old, and she had 13 years old.
 He ___________ in MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) every day for 6
hours.
 ___________ every year is important to know different people.
 He __________ with his girlfriend two years ago.
The past simple has three forms that you can use to write sentences. They are affirmatives,
negatives and questions. [1]

 Affirmative Sentences:

Subject + infinitive verb + (-d or -ed)

For example:

 She lived in Japan in 1996.

 My father worked yesterday.
 He played with his best friend the last week.
 I sometimes walked home at lunchtime.
 They finished their work at eight o’clock.
Consequently, when we use past tense sometimes this is associate to temporary expressions that
indicate:

 Frequently: often, sometimes, always.

 I often brought my lunch to university.

 A determinate time: last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.
 They saw a good movie last week.

 An indeterminate time: the other day, ages ago, a long time ago.
 He played the guitar ages ago.

 Negative Sentences:
Subject + did not (didn’t) + infinitive verb
For example:

 I didn’t walk yesterday.

 You did not see the movie.
 He didn’t play the guitar.
We use did not (didn’t) to write a negative sentence in the past tense, this is to both cases, for
regular and irregular verbs in English.

For example:

 Present: You don’t need a firefighter.

 Past: You didn’t need a firefighter.
The main verb (need in the example above) is in its infinitive form. The auxiliary didn´t shows that
the sentence is negative and in the past tense.
NOTE: It’s very important to know that the only difference between negative sentence in past
tense and a negative sentence in the present tense is the change in the auxiliary verb. Both don’t
and doesn’t in the present tense and didn’t in the past tense.

So, to understand the above compare the negative sentences in next examples:

 Present: You don’t live in Colombia.

 Past: You didn’t live in Colombia.

 Present: He doesn’t walk to work.

 Past: He didn’t walk to work.
Examples of negative sentences in the past tense:

 They didn’t have time.

 You didn’t eat yesterday.
 She didn’t read the newspaper the last week

 Interrogative Sentences:
Did + subject + infinitive verb +?
For example:
 Did she arrive?
 Did they buy the tablet?
 Did you drive the car?
We use did to write a question in the past tense. This is for irregular and regular verbs, but with
the verb to be and modal verbs such as can are an exception. Thus, compare the following:

 Present: Do you live in New York?

 Past: Did you live in New York?
The main verb (live in the example above) is in its infinitive form. The auxiliary did shows that the
question is in the past tense.

NOTE: It’s necessary to know that the only difference between a question in the past tense and a
question in the present tense is the change in the auxiliary verb. Both do and does in present
tense questions in the present tense and didn’t in the past tense questions.

So, to understand the above compare the negative sentences in next examples:
 Present: Do you need a nurse?
 Past: Did you need a nurse?

 Present: Does she live in France?

  Past: Did she live in France?
Examples of question sentences in the past tense:
 Did you go to work yesterday?
 Did she like the gifts?
 Did we arrive on time?
We can also use a question word (Who, What, Why, etc.) before did to ask for more information.
For example:

 When did you study? – I studied two days ago.

 Where did you buy? – I bought in Zara.
On the other hand, to identify the difference between a long answer and a short answer, we will
see the next examples explaining the difference.

 Was Cesar at the party last Saturday?

 Yes, he was. (Short answer)
 Yes, Cesar was at the party last Saturday. (Long answer)
 Did you talk with Mario on weekend?
 No, I didn’t. (Short answer)
 No, I didn’t talk with Mario on weekend. (Long answer)
 Could they speak Italian?
 Yes, they could. (Short answer)
 Yes, they could speak Italian. (Long answer)
If you can see, the long answers usually sound repetitive and they are not commonly used
talking with the people. Remember that if the question starts with did, you can give a short
answer using the same auxiliary verb did. It’s not necessary to use the main verb in the answer.

For example:
 Did you sing well last night?
 Yes, I did / No, I didn’t.
 Did she remember your birthday?
 Yes, she did / No, she didn’t.
 Did they buy a new pet?
 Yes, they did / No, they didn’t.

 The simple past of the regular verbs is made adding -d or -ed to the base form of the verb.
 The simple past of the irregular verbs is formed in different forms, depending the verb.

For example:
go: went begin: began break: broke
blow: blew do: did grow: grew
 Common regular verbs in simple past:
Infinitive Past Tense Negative
to ask asked did not ask
to work worked did not work
to call called did not call
to use used did not use
 Common irregular verbs in simple past:
Infinitive Past Tense Negative
to be was/were was not/were not
to have had did not have
to do did did not do
to say said did not say
to get got did not get
to take took did not take
 EXERCISES

1. Make the past simple. Identify if the sentence is in affirmative,

negative or if a question sentence.

a. We _______ (work) in a supermarket for five years.

b. She _______ (travel) through the middle east last month.
c. He _______ (not/study) Italian at university.
d. Where ____________ (they/live) when you were young?
e. Where ____________ (she/teach) before she came here?
f. He _______ (not/watch) the movie yesterday.
g. _______ (I/visit) the museum in Spain.
h. We _______ (buy) a new motorcycle last month.
i. ____________ (Angela/read) ‘El Viejo y el mar’ at school?
j. She _______ (not/think) that she was right.
k. I _______ (play) football yesterday.
l. You _______ (not/write) to your grandmother.
m. They _______ (meet) yesterday.
n. I _______ (love) the chocolate when I was a child.
o. Where ____________ (she/go) on holiday?
p. He _______ (have) a computer the last year.
Image 8. Man speaking
q. What ____________ (you/drink) for lunch?
r. She _______ (try) to lift the box but she couldn’t.
s. ____________ (they/swim) in the sea in Colombia.

2. Write the correct form of regular and irregular verbs.

Stay Watch Relax
Listen Clean Return
Play Copy Smoke
Walk Create Start
Work Cry Use
Help Dance Want
Look Hope Attack
Ask Kill Borrow
Love Move Brush
Like Paint Explain
Laugh Do Fall
Be Choose Eat
Lose Wake Run
Buy Get Begin
Grow Ring Sell
Teach Sit Stick
Have Lay Find
3. Answer the following questions:

1. Do you remember your first day at university? If you can, describe it.
2. Did you go to any birthday last year? Describe it/them in detail.
Answers:

a. I remember my first day at university. I was ___________ years old and I remember I
wore a red T-shirt. The T-shirt was ________.
b. Last year I went to __________ birthdays. My favorite was my own birthday. I received
many gifts and money. So, I went to buy a ________ to go to University.

4. Put the life events from the ´key vocabulary´ section into the
correct categories:
Bring up your children
Go to university
Education Work Relationships Home and
Move house Family
Rent or buy a house
Get married
Get promoted
Pass your exams
Celebrate an anniversary
Get a degree
Leave school
Retire
Start work
Get engaged
Have children
Fall in love
Leave home
Get a job
Start school
Image 9. Teaching
5. Order the words to form the correct questions with past simple.

a. Those/shoes/much/how/were? ____________________________________
b. Did/where/meet/wife/he/his? ____________________________________
c. Find/flat/did/they/a? ____________________________________
d. Yesterday/did/you/homework/your/do? ____________________________________
e. Interesting/were/the/classes? ____________________________________
f. Where/born/were/we? ____________________________________
g. Finish/work/time/he/what/did? ____________________________________
h. Weather/was/like/what/the? ____________________________________
i. Your/holiday/parents/what/on/buy/did? ____________________________________
j. Why/stay/did/home/at/you? ____________________________________

6. Connect the questions with the correct answers.

Where did you We love it.

go last Winter?

Where did you In September.

stay?

Did you like it? With my wife.

When did you By plane.

go?

What did you In the mornings, we went to the ice rink and in
do there? the evening we visited the villages on the coast.

Who did you go In a rented house.

with?

Was it No, it wasn´t. Sweden is cheaper than Italy.

expensive?

How did you To Sweden.

get there?
 BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rost M., (2016) World View 2a, Pearson.

[1] http://www.ef.com.co/recursos-aprender-ingles/gramatica-inglesa/simple-past/.

Image 1. Objectives Icon

Source: Image extracted from Google images, https://intereuroparioja.org/wp-
content/uploads/2016/12/aprender-haciendo.png

Image 2. Michael Jackson

Source: Image extracted from Google images, https://userscontent2.emaze.com/images/0f49fac1-2a23-
4783-9e6f-5d5aff695e65/f07855e1-1949-4db0-8ce8-3552334abd4e.png

Image 3. Graduation
Source: Image extracted from Google images, https://userscontent2.emaze.com/images/3c93baf9-eb78-
4c04-92a8-c5120b8b9521/376f3c693763609f38a17ffd842c3625.png

Image 4. Retirement
Source: Image extracted from Google images, http://www.clever.insure/wp-
content/uploads/2016/01/retirement-couple-boat.png

Image 5. Wedding
Source: Image extracted from Google images,
http://res.cloudinary.com/hrscywv4p/image/upload/c_limit,fl_lossy,h_1440,w_720,f_auto,q_auto/v1/
1149968/Wedding-PNG-Clipart_il0lrh.png

Image 6. School
Source: Image extracted from Google images,
https://image.pbs.org/poster_images/assets/hqcolhns1v0r3gf7y53u.png.resize.710x399.png

Image 7. Child
Source: Image extracted from Google images, http://www.theiskandarian.com/web/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/their-first-child-part-one.png

Image 8. Man speaking

Source: Image extracted from Google images, http://www.pngmart.com/files/3/Speaking-Transparent-
PNG-278x279.png

Image 9. Teaching
Source: Image extracted from Google images, https://audienceops.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/07/FEATURED_How-Business-Owners-Can-Build-Influence-Through-Public-
Speaking-576x316.png