03 Past simple Past simple and past continuous 1 Some examples of the past simple: Iwalked to college yesterday. She didn’t phone me last week. When did you arrive in this country? 2 Forms of the past simple: Vyou/he/sherit/we/they finished NEGATIVE (did not / didn’t + verb) Vyou/he/she/it/we/they did not / didn’t finish nor didn'tfinished did l/you/he/shesit/we/they finish nor did:tfinished 3. Regular verbs (posi ive forms): We form the past simple by adding -ed to the verb: walk — walked visit —- visited For verbs ending with -e, we add -d: live — lived love — loved For verbs ending with a consonant andy, we take away -yand add -ied: carry — carried try For many verbs ending with one vowel and one consonant, we double the last letter and add -ed. stop + stopped _plan — planned (For more regular past simple forms, see p. 130.) A. Family history 4 Irregular verbs: Many very common verbs are irregular: go —* went come—> came do— did speak— spoke run—tran have > had take—-took — see—*saw —_ buy > bought think —* thought leave —*left_ make —* made (For more irregular past simple forms, see p. 131.) 5 The past simple forms of be: V/he/sherit was/Awas notAwasn’t you/we/they were/were not/weren’t was I/he/she/it were you/we/they Grammar in action ‘]_ We use the past simple to talk about actions completed in the past, for example when we describe a sequence of events: He came out of the door, locked it, got into his car and drove away. 2 We use the past simple to talk about past situations (situations that are not true now). For example, we can use it to describe earlier times in our lives: was a waiter when | lived in Spain. ith the past simple, we often say when something happened. Sometimes we don't say when something happened because we understand what point in time in the past we are talking about: What did you do last night? ~ I listened to some music, | read a book and then | went to bed. (= last night) Complete this description using the past simple forms of the verbs in brackets. ‘My name is Gurnam and my family originally My grandparents, the city of Leicester. My grandfather > (become) very successful. He 5 (arrive) in Britain but he English when he 10 | Verbs and tenses cae%e....9 (come) from India. (move) to Britain in 1975 and they went to live in 2 (open) a restaurant there and he * (not speak) much ® (learn) veryquickly, Lots of people 7 (eat) at his restaurant. He * (work) very hard for many years and he * (make) plenty of money. My father. ® (be) born in Leicester and he ' (go) to school there. He +2 (do) very well at school and * (pass) all his exams. Then he + (study) at university for three years and +5 (get) a Business degree. After that, he 1 (set] up his own business. At first he 0 (sell) clothes in a shop near the city centre, and after a few years he. ** (own) five shops alll over the city. When I was a small child, we + (live) in a small house but my father ® (buy) a bigger one two years ago. An unpleasant journey Complete this story about a journey, using the past simple and the correct verbs from the box. Use short forms for negatives. get notstay drive be(x2) shout notspeak come notgo make notstart notsay arrive start go notarrive want Yesterday |..¢nn4.. ona day trip. My friend Liam. + with me. The day 2 well because Liam 2 at my house late. He 4 why he Slate and | © at him. Then we 7 our journey. | s the car.A bit later, we lost. We to goto the seaside but we 1 abad mistake and we » in the right direction. We at the beach until very late in the day, so we + for along time. On the way home, we 5 to each other at all. We 16 both very angry. The road to fame Complete this interview with a famous singer, using the past simple and the correct words from the box. offer play youfeel happen appear be noteam youbecome help ithappen see leave enjoy buy want make yotstart take ask know have INTERVIEWER When .. did. yo. siay-t..® singing in the band? MIA well, | + 19 years old. The original singer > the band and the others ome to replace him. INTERVIEWER * successful very quickly? MIA No, it 5 along time. We in small clubs for many years and we 7 much money. INTERVIEWER * unhappy then? MIA No, we * ourselves. We agreat time. But we " to succeed. INTERVIEWER — How 2 MA Well, a manager us playing in a small club and he to be our manager. He 6 alot about the music business and he usa lot Because of him, we ¥ onaTV show. Then we a record and lots of people it Everything * very quickly then. Verbs and tenses | 11Past simple and past continuous Past continuous; past simple or continuous? 6 Some examples of the past continuous: ‘In 2003, Iwas studying at college. Please repeat that, I wasn’t listening. What were you doing at 6 0' clock yesterday evening? 7 Forms of the past continuous: Vhe/she/it was walking. you/we/they were walking. Vhe/she/it was not / wasn't walking, you/we/they were not / weren't walking. was I/you/he/sherit wal were you/we/they walking (For rules on the -ing form, see p. 130.) Grammar in action @ We use the past continuous for actions and situations that were in progress at a particular time in the past (eg. in 1981, at 6 a.m. yesterday morning): At 7.30 p.m. last night, Iwas playing a video game, iy sister was doing her homework and my parents were reading. 5 We often use the past continuous in sentences with the past simple to talk about two actions. We use the past simple for a completed action and the past continuous to describe something in progress when the second action happened: was walking down the street when | met an old friend. While/When | was walking down the street, |metan old friend. ‘We use when before the past simple and while/when before the past continuous: When the doorbell rang, | was lying in bed. While/When I was lying in bed, the doorbell rang. D_ What was happening five years ago 12 | Verbsand tenses ‘Complete this description of situations five years ago, using the past continuous and the verbs in brackets. Use short forms for negatives. Five years ago,|..._..w.aving...2llive) ina different city. 1 (study) for my final school exams and | 2 (try) to decide what to do after school. 3 (do) homework every evening and | (not go) out much, My friends * (have) more fun than me. They (go) to clubs and they 7 (enjoy) themselves while Il ® (sit) at home. But 'm glad now that | (not do) that, because | passed my exams and now I've got a good job. Five years ago, my father 1° (work) very hard. He " (get) up early every morning and he 22 (come) home quite late at night. He * (feel) under pressure and he (not enjoy) life. He is retired now and he is much happier because he has a lot more free time. Five years ago, my sister +5 (go) out with a local boy. They 16 (save) money to get married and they their wedding. She *® (serve) in a shop and he (live) with his parents. Now they're married and they've got three children. ” (plan)E Adayat the office Complete these sentences about someone's day at work, using the past simple or the past continuous forms of the verbs in brackets. Spree 0 While! as. travelling, travel) to work, | act. (ged stuckin rafficjam. RIAA 1 When! (arrive) at work, my boss (speak) to Sonia someone on the phone. eed 2 Atilam,! (do) some work when the boss al alae (ask) to see me. [aie 3 While! (talk) to my boss, his phone (ring) eh ees several times. See ee 4 When! (come) out of the boss's office, people pee (not work), they (look) at me. a 5 Atlo'clock,! (stop) work and | (go) for lunch. ee eee 6 While! (eat) my lunch, a colleague (come) to ee my table. 7 While we (sit) together, he. (ask) mea question. 8 He asked me: ‘What (the boss/talk) about while you (sit) in his office?” 9 Isaid:'When | (go) into his office, | (feel) nervous, but he (smile). 10 While we (talk), he. (offer) me a much better job’ F Travel writers Complete this story, using the past simple or the past continuous form of the correct verbs from the box. You will need to use some of the verbs more than once. plan ask have decide meet travel come sit write give discover become start make do chat continue notlike five Joan .....».a5.)iving.....® in Paris when she * Paul. She ina i café when he... > to her table and 4 if he could sit there. : They * talking and while they « they ” i I * a lot in common. Both of them *novelsandboth =| of them fobs that. they oc... tuum They See neiiec 2 very good friends. i One day, while they +3 Junch in the same café, they Wanidea, | They wees %5 to travel around the world together. While they % i their trip, they ...!7 working. Then they ** up their jobs and they _....® their journey. While they 2», they aa all sorts of adventures, and they * all sorts of interesting people. They i ...2 lots of notes while they 2 these experiences. When they ; > home again, both of them ........ _.....28 books about their journey. i Now go to page 122. Verbs andtenses | 13